All in a day's work
by PepperonyOwl
Summary: Pepperony - IM1. Excerpt: Instead she found herself face to face with the arc reactor in his very naked chest. A quick glance told her that he was wearing boxers but nothing else. She found herself swallowing, eyes quickly snapping back to his face, hoping against hope he hadn't noticed her small indiscretion. By the languid smirk on his face he had. Smug bastard.
1. Handling Mr Stark's absence

**All in a day's work**

Disclaimer: I don't own Ironman, any of the actors and actresses and I don't make any money off this.

Side note from the author – this is based on the movies rather than the comics. I am ashamed to admit that I have not read the comics.

Also – it's a Pepper & Tony (Pepperony) fanfiction. Mainly takes place before and during the first Ironman movie.

I apologise in advance for any typos. Please let me know if you find any. It's 3 a.m. and I'm not really all that clear headed. I also have no beta for this fanfiction. So – Sorry again.

Also a line of these * symbolises a time jump. There are quite a few. Hope you enjoy it, this plot bunny has been bugging me for over 3 months now.

†************************************

Tired, overworked and exhausted Pepper sat down on the swivel chair in Tony's lab and sighed. She allowed herself all of 3 minutes to unwind and get herself into gear for the next few hours before telling the empty room "Hit me with it, Jarvis" and allowing screens to flicker into life at her words and calculations and 3D models surrounded her within a short space of time and an electronic voice started to fill the void. "Good evening Ms. Potts. I will continue where we left off last night..."

Within moments the 3D model started to rotate as different areas were highlighted and Jarvis patiently explained the functions of each part and how they interacted with each other. Over the space of four hours the artificial intelligence continued to illustrate different equations relevant to understanding the concepts and elucidated the different calculations the machine would run through on its own. After numerous questions by Pepper into the functionality and repeating the information back to ensure she had a sufficient understanding of everything she instructed Jarvis to shut down at 4 a.m.

"Good night Ms. Potts. I do not believe it would be beneficial to drive home at this late hour and have made sure that your preferred guest room is still available for you. The clothes you keep at Mr. Stark's for emergencies have been washed and dried." Yawning, Pepper stretched to hopefully prevent a stiff neck for the morning before addressing Jarvis.

"Thank you again Jarvis. Sound off. And no eyes either." As she walked off she could already feel the walls crumbling and the despair closing in on her. Two months and no word. She was on the phone with Rhodey once a week for an update but Tony remained stubbornly hidden. He was good at that. Being stubborn, that is. He'd once spent the entire three hours on a flight convincing her to go to a restaurant with him until she'd finally agreed; only she had invited all the business partners from that afternoon's meeting along with them and when they had arrived, Tony had given her this slightly amused smirk and a nod of appreciation at outmanoeuvring him. She'd smiled back and when he'd turned on all his charm suddenly and had one of the female business partners practically drooling at his feet to do anything he wanted, she swore herself she'd never end up in his bed.

Ironically, nowadays she mainly slept in his bed. The smell reminded her of him. She'd refused to change it until his actual return and she suspected Jarvis knew but he was polite enough not to say anything when the guest beds remained untouched for another night. Once again the tears started coming once she was on his bed and a sob wrenched itself from her throat. It was all too much. No one believed that Tony was coming back anymore. She and Rhodey were fighting a one man fight – him against the military wanting to give up searching for him and her against Obadiah and Stark Industries – Obadiah still wanted himself named CEO so he could "bring SI under firm control and more steadiness into the firm". She thought he'd given up on Tony remarkably quickly.

He kept bugging her to give up as she was the only person in his way; once Tony realised she was representing him in meetings etc he had a lawyer write a legal document to state that she was speaking on his behalf in any and all matters and in his absence was CEO for all intents and purposes. And everyone was trying to make her give up, but how could she? Tony was Tony. He'd fight. He was too stubborn for anything else. He needed to know that at least he had people here willing to fight for him too, willing him to come back to them alive. So she curled in on herself and cried herself to sleep to release a bit of all the stress and anxiety and panic and deep feeling of loss and loneliness. In a few hours she'd get up and she would once again present a firm, immoveable mountain of belief for everyone else and she would once again fight tooth and nail all day, attend all the meetings and not allow Obadiah to take control from her. She would not give up. Not on Tony, not ever.

†************************************

Within two weeks of being Mr. Stark's PA, Pepper realised that this would require far more than just the usual interference-running. Mr. Stark seemed prone to either turn up late for meetings or not turn up at all. Her previous positions had involved a lot of organisational talents on her part but she had to never actually force, coerce and/or blackmail her boss to actually turn up to his own meetings. She realised quickly she would have to change her entire approach towards this position if she wanted to stay longer than any of the previous PA's had – though she was still unsure if they left because Mr. Stark had slept with them and had thus become uninterested in anything that they told him or if they had been just as overwhelmed as her at the childish attitude the CEO was demonstrating.

The previous PA's – he'd gone through a staggering 63 PA's in the last 5 years alone - had lasted only days, others 1-2 weeks, one or two only 2 months. Of course, she had thoroughly researched this before the interview and before applying for the position but it had never occurred to her that anyone could be a CEO and not have a modicum of respect for actually attending meetings with his business partners – or potential business partners. Before the first two weeks in this job she had been confident in herself and her ability to organise anyone, no matter how forgetful or disorganised they were.

Stark had proven her wrong within such a short space of time and part of her just wanted to throw in the towel, like everyone else and give up. Let someone else try and deal with this... mess. But there were several problems she had with this: First of all, she kind of (kind of!) liked Stark. Unlike most people, his sense of humour was very much like hers, dry wit, irony and sarcasm. And he was intelligent – off the charts intelligent: Of course this wasn't really a secret and pretty much every newspaper pointed out just how much of a genius he was, but the important thing to her was that he could keep up with her – well, he could run circles around her, really, especially when it concerned anything mechanical or Physics – but they could banter back and forth on the endless flights, they could have intelligent conversations about most things and he was oh so very charming.

Stark had his flaws, just like anyone and they were kind of big flaws so it wasn't as if she would ever even think of entering a relationship with him as he was clearly more interested in one night stands, but he could turn into a very interesting and enjoyable friend; that is if he didn't drive her nuts at work first. Also, she was Virginia Potts and she was not one to just give up.

Having come to conclusion that taking the easy way out wasn't really the Potts-way, or at least nor her way, she debated what steps to take next. She needed to get Tony to attend the important meetings at least and she somehow needed to be able to take over the less important meetings, i.e. she'd attend the weekly employees meetings so he would only have to attend the bi-monthly meetings which were attended by all the employees. Same for meeting partners – she needed to get up to speed on his projects and the intricacies of what they were selling so she could handle the smaller meetings herself and Tony – Mr. Stark - would only have to turn up for new clients or major issues.

This was the moment where she realised she would need to take Mr. Stark up on his offer that all his resources were available to her as well.

For the following four weeks she only allowed herself 4 hours of sleep a night as she studied relentlessly with the help of Jarvis and brushed up on her non-existent mechanical knowledge and her thankfully-still-there Physics knowledge. She felt as though she was back at University and studying for exams, though now she had several every day.

Most of the time, even now, she kept a tiny device in her ear which would give her access to Jarvis who helped her when she didn't know the answer to some of the more technical enquiries by the business partners and their technicians. After that she reduced the amount of time she'd spend studying with Jarvis – and how odd it felt as an accomplished PA with several years on the job and out of University for over a decade to still have to study at night.

Needless to say, she kept the job and was not fired – nor did she sleep with the boss. She was still uncertain if there was a correlation between the two but figured after what amounted to over 8 years now she had made herself relatively irreplaceable. At least, that is was she thought before her boss had managed to get himself abducted and left her to handle everything by herself.

†************************************

The news of Tony's abduction hit her like a freight train. She had been deeply asleep only to be woken up by her mobile phone ringing incessantly on her bedside table. After years of working for Stark she had gotten used to these late night "emergencies". Usually they tended to be of a variety where he'd been caught with his trousers down or with some woman, most times with both of them naked. She was used to doing damage control for him and after the first few times had taken to leaving her phone on her bedside table and within easy reach.

So when her phone rang she didn't check the caller ID and was already half getting dressed, expecting to be called to clear up after another one of Tony's latest escapades. "Pepper" She halted in putting on her skirt for a moment before continuing. It was rare that Tony was able to drag Rhodey into whatever "brilliant" idea he'd had – well, no; that wasn't strictly accurate. Rhodey and Tony frequently got themselves into trouble and did stupid things. It was just rare that they went far enough – or public enough – to have to call in Pepper Potts – Tony's PA.

She vaguely wondered whether she'd have to bribe newspapers again into not releasing pictures of Tony and Rhodey drunk. Rhodey was a hilarious drunk and she had always been somewhat amused at his antics – at least after she'd finished handling the repercussions. "Tony has been kidnapped". For a moment she was sure she'd misheard but nonetheless froze in her movements. Tony? Kidnapped? She thought, slightly panicked, that he'd drive the kidnappers nuts within hours and then they would kill him because few people could handle Tony in truly annoying mode – which he'd be in if anyone or anything displeased him. Being kidnapped would definitely make that list.

"Tony – he's alive. We're looking for him. We'll find him, Pepper." His tone was trying to be reassuring but she could hear the screaming and yelling behind him and it was hard not to panic. But she was Virginia Potts, now very much know as "Pepper Potts" and as Anthony Starks PA, had only taken a minute to put all her emotions onto the backburner to deal with later. Okay, maybe it had been much more the shock doing that for her as everything seemed kind of distant but clear.

"Are you hurt?" Her tone was slightly sharp and all business. She needed as much information as she could get before the military stopped Rhodey from leaking potentially sensitive information to her. "No, I'm okay, a few scratches maybe. But Pep – Tony... We found his blood very close to a bomb. He – they told me it wasn't near enough blood to be fatal but he is likely to be injured, wherever he is." She breathed in deeply. It was okay. She could handle this. He was NOT dead. He'd come back to her and if she had to get Jarvis and drag Tony back by his feet, she'd do it. They'd find him. Rhodey would find him.

After another deep breath Rhodey kept talking "I – they attacked our Humveys. Tony and I went into separate ones and all I know is that they have taken him – rebels, apparently. Tony is alive. They-" He cleared his throat. Him and Tony had been best friends since college, it was no surprise he was upset.

Idly, she thought that once the shock wore off she would probably not have anywhere as much self-control and that she should really handle as much PR as she could right now as she would probably need several hours to herself afterwards. "Rhodey, it's okay. We'll find him. I'll get Jarvis onto it. We'll have him back in no time, you'll see." Her voice was pitched just right, calming and soothing, the way her mum used to talk to her as a kid when she had a nightmare and woke up.

The problem was that this was not a nightmare and she didn't know if Tony would ever come back to her –them and even if he might never be the same. Joking, fun loving, annoying, childish Tony. The same Tony who would send her endless emails if he got bored or sit on her desk and annoy her until she either gave in or blackmailed him into doing exactly what she wanted. She missed him already, she realised with detached surprise.

"Pepper", Rhodey interjected and rose her from her thoughts. She realised now she'd been quiet for quite a few seconds. "There's something else you should know." The pause seemed quite long and part of her dreaded what he'd say next. Tony was alive - he had said as much. They were looking for him. What more did she need to know?

"They used Stark Industries weapons." That got her attention again. Her whole world narrowed and zeroed in on this fact – if this came out it could prove disastrous. SI weapons in the hands of rebels in Afghanistan and they had kidnapped the inventor of these very weapons. This was so not good. "Are you sure?" She knew he wouldn't have mentioned it if he hadn't been certain, but part of her needed the confirmation. "Yes, they even had the Stark Industries logo on them – they didn't even attempt to cover this up." He paused and he had obviously realised that she was Tony's friend too. "Pep, I am so sorry." She nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "We'll find him. Let me know if you get any news." With that she ended the call without saying goodbye. She had no time for pleasantries and it was time for her to start being Tony's PA and doing damage control – as per usual, only more serious and far more urgent this time.

Pepper wasted no time in remotely contacting Jarvis after switching her phone to silent. "Jarvis – Tony has been kidnapped on the way back through Afghanistan. Can you track him? Also, get me any satellite images of the time and I need our weapons log for the past three years to see if we have got missing weapons." Whilst she instructed the artificial intelligence in everything she needed she finished getting dressed and by the time he replied she was just locking her front door. "I will have the data ready for you when you arrive, Ms. Potts." With a quick thank you she ended the connection and made her way to her car to drive to Tony's house.

Upon arrival Jarvis allowed her to enter and opened the doors for her. The lights switched on automatically. "Welcome Ms. Potts. All the information is downloaded and now available to you. There are no detailed satellite images of the area during the time, I'm afraid but I have cleared the pictures we have as much as possible for you and have identified Mr. Stark on them."

Jarvis paused. "Ms. Potts, I am uncertain if you should be seeing these images. It's not... pretty." Pepper snorted, half anxious, half distressed. "Jarvis, since when has that ever mattered? I have seen the damages the weapons that Tony invents do. I have seen the villages decimated, people dead and torn apart and the dying. I have seen the children hit by another one of his weapons. I handle his PR – you know I have seen all this and much worse."

"Ms. Potts, no one you know personally was injured in these. That does make a difference and is more likely to emotionally affect you." She steeled herself, half annoyed now as she walked towards the big screen. "I am Tony's PA. I need to know what has happened to him and I need to see exactly what happened so I know what I should be telling the press." Jarvis argued no further and the screen flickered to life. The images were still somewhat grainy but Jarvis circled Tony for her; though he was one of the few in a suit so he wasn't that hard to pick up out of the crowd. She appreciated this more though once she saw the gun fire, the hum vees being hit and people running everywhere. Tony, he was hiding behind a rock and then suddenly a bomb went off next to him just as he was trying to run.

Then the screen was blank. For a desperate moment she just stood there, heart thumping in her chest. It was all so much more real seeing it happening. She'd heard everything but seeing it... She bit her lip and clenched her fists as she closed her eyes and swallowed, gathering all the calmness in her and pushing all her anxiousness and panic to the back. She could not deal with these right now.

"Jarvis, why did you stop the video?" "There is no other footage. This is all the satellite caught. No other satellites were in the position at the time." She sighed. Of course not. "Okay, thank you Jarvis. Please monitor the military and all the satellites. If we get any more footage of any movements I need to know immediately. Also, please monitor the media and alert me if anyone releases anything." "I will take care of it, Ms Potts.".

With a calm nod she turned her Blackberry's volume back on and phoned Obadiah Stane next. "Mr. Stane, this is Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark's PA. I presume you have heard the news?" She heard his breath and felt vaguely uncomfortable before he started speaking. "Ms. Potts, thank you very much for your call. Yes, I have been informed. Tony, dear Tony. What are we going to do?" She knew it was a rhetorical question and she knew he probably already had a plan. He always had a plan. She'd been forced into corners by him too many times to not know that so she interjected before he could lay it out. "I will be holding a press conference in an hour and make an announcement. I will handle Mr. Stark's meetings and either attend them myself or reschedule them for the next two weeks. I just wished to inform you that I will continue acting as Mr. Stark's PA, as I have been for the last eight years and manage the PR. You will not need to take care of anything." She clenched her fist again.

There, even in shock she'd laid it out politely but firmly to him. He would not be taking over for Tony in his absence as he always seemed keen to do. "Why, Ms. Potts, you are very well prepared." Was it her imagination or was there more annoyance than usual in his tone of voice? He sounded furious. She frowned. "I'd be happy to leave it all in your capable hands. I am too distraught over Tony to be of much use to you anyway just now." Funny, he didn't sound all that distraught, though she supposed she didn't either. She still sounded more cool and aloof and with no outward signs of the anxious, distressed and hair-gripping Pepper that was running circles in her head. "Just leave it all to me, sir." After his "Thank you Ms. Potts" she hung up and threw her phone down.

A hard kick to the couch was all the emotion she allowed herself before instructing Jarvis to organise the press conference whilst she went to clean up and make herself presentable and the calm and collected representative of Mr. Stark and Stark Industries that she needed to be.

†************************************

It was with grim satisfaction that she had left the latest meeting. Stane had somehow managed to sever her connection with Jarvis and hoped she'd falter during the meeting when the technicians asked her more technical data and he had been about to step in when she had met his gaze before and arrested his movement before turning back to the technician with a smile and explaining what Jarvis had so patiently drummed into her during the many late nights. Then she gave him the personal number of their head engineer so that if he had further queries he could have someone to get in touch with who could handle any and all technical queries.

Stane had been furious – she saw the glint in his eyes, the way his hands balled and his forehead furrowed, before it all smoothed out and disappeared and he was back to being the unflappable Obadiah Stane, only concerned for Tony. Sometimes she was not sure if she just imagined half these moments, but not just now. Just now she was too satisfied that her late hours had paid off. Even Stane's joke about "Can you believe she is only Tony's PA?" had fallen flat as the meeting partners had been too impressed.

She'd always been good at business and after 8 years had become quite accustomed to being the go-to person for problem solving and even technical questions. The meeting partners had only been more impressed that she was "just" the PA and offered her a job on the spot if she ever wanted. She had just smiled and declined and led them out to the foyer before going back to her desk – still in front of Tony's room. She had made sure nobody touched anything in Tony's office so everything remained as it was when he left. Every now and then she made sure to update his paperwork in his drawers but no one else was allowed access.

†************************************

That's it for now. Let me know if you like it. This is my first attempt at fanfiction so I would appreciate some constructive criticism. Tell me what you think could've been done better, what you liked and what can be improved.


	2. The first two weeks

Woohoo! Can't believe how many people read this. I'll try and keep the updates going.

Arihimew & thewarpedmind1- thank you for taking the time to review my fanfiction. It was very encouraging and made me excited enough to want to upload the next chapter already! So this chapter is for you.

Arihimew: I do have a vague outline. This means that Ironman the first movie will start diverging from canon but after that I am somewhat uncertain. I hadn't originally planned to go beyond that, but I guess I may change my mind once I have come that far. But that's miles off into the distance still :)

This chapter is dedicated to Arihimew and thewarpedmind1 who both took the time to review my first chapter and my first fanfiction. Thank you!

/****/***$%/*/*****/

The first two weeks had been the once that had shaken her up the most. She had always half-expected Tony to return after a day or two with only a couple of bruises and scratches chatting about "war wounds" and how that would only make him more attractive to anyone of the female gender. Then he'd probably come onto her with a cheap line, but looking oh so charming, brown eyes fixed on her as if she was the single most important thing in the world. To this day it still made her heart flutter and her breathing pick up, but she'd taken out too many of his one night stands to fall for that. However, none of that happened. Anthony Stark, the man who lived to make her life complicated and miserable, the man who kept her constantly on her toes, never certain what he'd come up with next, did not return to her. Part of her had been certain that he only did that to spite her and so he could have an easy way out of attending meetings. The bastard. It gave her the bite and strength she needed for dealing with some people who thought that women could be run roughshod over. He hadn't made that mistake twice – but that was of little consolation now. He hadn't returned. And without fail, once night had settled and she found herself without the constant buzz about her, her thoughts return to him. Always to him.

When she did not have to handle phone call after phone call, press conference after meeting, annoyed business partners after hysteric employee, everything seemed to uncertain and she tended to feel like she was drowning. It was after an incredibly long day at work –Mr. Stark's 6th day without being found – that she first entered his bedroom. After all these years, working side by side from morning until well past midnight for days and yet he still managed to surprise her, still managed to get one over her just when she thought she'd seen it all. This was the first time she felt entirely alone and in over her head. She had always had someone to rely on but now she found herself standing between two titans with no one at her side and nowhere to go. The 6th day of Mr. Stark's disappearance had a lot of firsts.

/*****************/

The first time she realised that it would be just her alone against the world with only a few people helping her she was part of the General meeting to represent Mr. Stark as his PA with the figures, updates on latest research, new projects, financial aspects and anything else potentially relevant. According to Mr. Stark these meetings weren't worth his time so more often than not his PA had found herself in these meetings representing him. He only really turned up for this one if he had a new invention – that wasn't really much of an issue except that he wouldn't tell her. It had taken her about 4 months into her job before she'd worked out why he attended sometimes and not others. In turn she had worked out a system with Jarvis so he would let her know in advance if any new inventions had been finished.

Still, occasionally, Tony would finish one whilst the meeting was ongoing and then would simply proceed to burst in, interrupt whoever was speaking – usually still wearing his shirt with grease stains on it and only a jacket thrown over the top – before simply taking the floor, explaining what he wanted and generally just blowing everyone out of the water before leaving again to either party or tinker with his hot rod. Those days she would usually make sure he had an extra big pile of paperwork to sign and read. It was her form of revenge and she knew that he understood as those days were the only ones he did everything she'd asked without fail, including reading and signing documents, which was probably his most hated task.

This time she had been prepared with an account of the events in Afghanistan as well as the latest reports from Rhodey. What happened instead was Obadiah Stane. Mr. Stane was about 1.87m tall, bald and he had a sort of rugby-type figure – rather large and looming and his body part muscle mass, part body fat made him even more imposing a sight. He'd even tried to intimidate her a few times in the beginning so she would do what he wanted. Needless to say she'd made him see the error of his ways fairly quickly at least with her.

He was dressed in his finest suit and as soon as the last person took their seat he stood up and took over. "Welcome to our first General Meeting with our dear Tony Stark still missing, presumably kidnapped in the wartorn Afghanistan. We all miss him very much. Let us hope he will be back in our midst soon." He allowed a small pause whilst Pepper felt somewhat confused. His word choice surprised her – she had by no means a degree in Psychology but to put that much of an emphasis on how horrible Tony's current situation was, startled even her into noticing. But until he continued on, she would never have guessed as to why he was trying to subtly manoeuver people to be compassionate and upset.

"However, whilst we hope Tony's return will be swift, Stark Industries needs to show a united front and that it is still going strong. I move to vote for an interim CEO so we can keep representing Stark Industries to the world as a strong force that still has market leadership!" He put both his hands flat on the table, leaning forward, impassioned, voice rising. He paused for a breath, as everyone stared at him like startled rabbits at a wolf whilst he moved in for the kill.

When he continued, he stood back up straight, adjusted his jacket slightly and moved closer to the flipchart. He was the picture of a leader and it only took her two seconds to recognise it as the same pose Tony had taken for one of his cover photos for the newspaper. "I, of course, suggest myself here as the interim CEO. I have worked with both Howard and Anthony Stark. I was and am their trusted advisor and always only have the best for the company in mind."

Pepper found herself calming down. Whilst she had no particular liking for Obadiah Stane, he was the obvious choice. He was not the best at being diplomatic, but he was certainly passionate enough, knew about what they were selling and where the market was going – he knew how to manipulate reporters into writing what he wanted so she had faith in him as her temporary superior whilst Stark was gone. Plus – he would actually turn up to meetings and she wouldn't have to worry if he would manage to not flash anyone whilst partying. Or anymore scandals – in short, her life would probably be much easier. Pepper found herself calm for all of 10 seconds.

Mr. Stane in turn had rolled up his sleeves and with everyone still somewhat steamrollered into submission started illustrating his points, which directions he thought the company should move in, which weapons they should be focusing on improving and what they should be researching. And that was when it finally dawned on Pepper why what Mr. Stane was so calmly illustrating in front of her sounded so familiar.

Mr. Stane frequently insisted on private meetings with Mr. Stark – and she would be excluded from these meetings. However, Tony never much saw the need to be so secretive about these meetings so when they had their weekly meetings he would simply tell her everything that Obadiah had asked or told him. In turn it became her task to record what Mr. Stane said so if need be Tony could refer back to it at a later time if necessary.

But the problem was now that most of the points Mr. Stane was bringing up as "moving the company into a prosperous future" and as a "good direction" had been outright rejected by Mr. Stark. She frowned slightly. Why would Obadiah Stane, who knew better than anyone that Tony was not on board with these, suggest these ideas? This did not make any sense, when Tony was back he would be furious with Stane for doing this. This only made sense if… if he didn't expect Tony to return. And wasn't that just a blow to the kidneys. He did not expect Anthony Stark to make it out of Afghanistan alive and healthy. He expected to be made CEO permanently eventually.

Her eyes widened as this realisation hit her and her heart felt like it stopped momentarily. It had been maybe 6 days and he had already given up. Why would he give up that quickly? On Tony, nonetheless, whom he kept pointing out was his surrogate son.

Whilst she breathed in deeply and subtly, strengthening herself for the confrontation she was about to instigate and grabbed slightly hold of the edge of the table to give her something to lean on – she was interrupted by Ryan. Ryan Walls was their head lawyer and a friendly acquaintance of herself and Mr. Stark – though more through necessity than anything else.

Mr. Stark or Stark Industries and therefore Tony as its CEO were usually involved in about 50-odd court cases a year. Ryan was an exceptionally good lawyer and had quickly become a good acquaintance of theirs. But she had no idea why he now interrupted Mr. Stane. Did he want the interim CEO position?

"My apologies for the interruption, Mr. Stane." Ryan's voice carried clearly across the room as it always did when he talked, whilst his calm, blue gaze was fixed solely on Stane as he righted himself. He stood taller than Mr. Stane at 1.95m but had a much friendlier presence so she wasn't surprised when most of the attention he got from the room was positive – the notable exception of course was Mr. Stane himself though he got himself under control very quickly and smiled at the lawyer. "Of course, Mr. …" Obadiah Stane paused, expecting Ryan to fill the gap and from the glint in his eyes intentionally slighting him by making it known that he did not know his name. He could probably have named most if not all the people in this room – but Ryan had been beneath his notice until now. Mr. Stane was not usually involved in the legal aspects of the firm – unfortunately as Tony's PA she couldn't say she had the same fortune. "Ryan Walls – head lawyer. But more to the point, as I am sure you know, we already have a CEO."

She could see Obadiah's shoulders relaxing at this as he chortled good naturedly. "You might benefit from turning on the news or reading the papers every now and then, Mr. Walls. As I mentioned earlier, Anthony Stark has been kidnapped whilst demonstrating Stark Industries latest technology in Afghanistan. Our current CEO is absent. We – the company – need to have an interim leader whilst we await Tony's return."

Ryan frowned slightly before responding. "I was under the impression that Mr. Stark had informed you of this. He had papers drawn up years ago that if anything happened to him that made him unavailable or otherwise indisposed and unable to attend to the duties and functions of his CEO position he assigned someone to be able to take all actions in his place." Obadiah relaxed even further as he took his seat again. Pepper frowned when she took all this in. She normally knew where Mr. Stark was all the time. The only way he'd been able to have this meeting without her knowledge was if it had been before her time.

"So, no need for a vote. In that case, please just clarify for formality's sake whom he designated as CEO in his place." She did not like the self-satisfied smirk he wore, but if Tony had given him all this power, then there was nothing she could do about it. Pepper mentally prepared herself for what was about to come. There was no choice now. She would have to deal with it until Tony's return. Then she could discuss what a stupid idiot he'd been with him. In detail. Probably involving pointed footwear thrown at him. Ryan's next words quickly ripped her out of that fantasy.

"Ms. Virginia Potts." Her mind started and then blanked. What? If she had been a bit clearer-headed or if she had anticipated this even slightly she might have had time to appreciate Obadiah's facial expression. Ryan, on the other hand, looked at her with soft eyes, appreciating now what a shock this must be for her. She cleared her throat, but Obadiah was quicker. "When did he draw this up?" Good question. When? He must have known her already – obviously. "About 2 months after Ms. Potts started working for us. He told me he would be informing both of you – obviously I can see now that that has never happened."

She vaguely noticed that Obadiah looked furious. Furious with her. But why her? It wasn't as though she had know about this. Pepper had been just as dumbfounded and surprised as everyone else in the room. She never saw this coming – not even in her wildest dreams did she ever see this coming. And that Tony had done this after knowing her for only 2 months – at that time she'd still been unsure she wouldn't be fired like the others at the time. He'd obviously seen something in her she didn't know about. But why hadn't he told her?

And – goodness gracious - she was the CEO of Stark Industries in Tony's absence. She could feel her heart falter and then speed up rapidly. She – CEO! Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. Hysterical laughter threatened to bubble out of her but with calm rationality and the experience that could only come for working for a childish CEO named Anthony Stark she pushed the hysteria away. Passively she thought that now would be a good time to faint. When her body refused to comply with this request half a second later she realised she would now have to face these people and be convincing, well planned, rational, logical, calm and oh god, she so wasn't prepared. Why had that bastard not told her?

Taking a quick glance through the room she found herself still surrounded by half-annoyed, half-smiling business men, a sympathetic Ryan and a very angry definitely not CEO Obadiah Stane. She felt as though she should declare herself his arch nemesis. It somehow seemed the right thing to do just now. But with another blink of her eyes and a slight almost convulsive clenching and unclenching of her hands she found herself standing up and facing these people. She could deal. She was Virgina 'Pepper' Potts, Anthony Starks Personal Assistant –she'd thrown out his one night stands, had their clothes laundered, helped him build robots, helped him sober up, explained away nudity and drunkenness in public – she could do this. It was basically continuing to do her job, just with a couple more things. Like Marketing and Research and Finance and Publicity and oh my god, she couldn't do this!

Despite her thoughts running circles in her mind she smiled at these people. "It looks as though Mr. Stark is always good for a surprise – even when he has been kidnapped and shouldn't be able to instigate chaos on the other side of the planet." That made everyone laugh and chuckle. Mr. Stark had sometimes nearly caused riots in these General meetings and everyone knew he was always good for a joke and pranks. "Mark" She turned to he head of marketing who gave her his full attention. "I need to sit down with you sometime this week. How does Wednesday at 3 p.m. sound to you? We can then discuss where we are and your ideas." With a few more well-placed words she had everyone happy, her meeting schedule full of meetings and the General Meeting postponed for a week. She knew memorising the names of all these people would pay off eventually. Everyone had been very happy to be addressed personally and that she would actually listen to their concerns. She thought privately she might just be cheaper off paying for a psychiatrist they could tell all their woes to. But she sent them all off with a smile until she was left with only Ryan and Obadiah.

Ryan got her attention first as his hand closed around her elbow. With a bright smile Pepper turned towards him. "Pepper – I am sorry. I honestly thought you knew already, otherwise I would have told you before the meeting rather than surprise you." She put her hand on his shoulder – which, despite her not-so-small high heels still meant she needed to reach upwards – and reassured him. "It's okay, Ryan. You had no way of knowing. After 8 years it's quite reasonable to have expected him to have told me. I don't fault you for this at all." He nodded and his shoulders, which she hadn't even noticed were tensed, relaxed. "You know, you handled yourself admirably there. Especially for the bombshell I just landed you with. I think you will make a fantastic CEO until Tony comes back." With that he patted her shoulder, gave Obadiah a warning glare and then left.

"Mr. Stane" Pepper knew she'd need the upper hand for this conversation. "You have my apologies. I am sure, had circumstances been different, you would have made an excellent interim CEO. I look forward to receiving your advise until Mr. Stark returns to take back his position." She met his eyes head on, whilst Obadiah had taken up his typical stance of looming over her in an attempt to intimidate her. "I look forward to working with you." With a bright smile she stepped sideways whilst holding out her hand. This ensured everyone could see her through the glass doors offering him her hand. She wasn't quite sure why she took such precautions until she saw his eyes flitter from the door back to her and an acknowledgment appear in his eyes that he had been outmanoeuvred. For now. He shook her hand and responded "What? No appointment for me?" With a smile and a few more words she was on her way back to Tony's office. Gossip had obviously moved rather quickly as she was held up and congratulated several times over.

She already knew she wouldn't be using Tony's office – she'd keep her desk outside of his office just as it had always been. However, for now her desk was too open and since the General Meeting had been cut short rather abruptly she went into his office and closed the doors behind her. Once she made sure they were locked, she sank to the ground and just tried to breathe evenly. As soon as she had gathered herself she said "Jarvis?" into the empty room. "Yes, Ms. Potts?" The voice seemed to come from all around her and she took slight solace in that. This she was used to – as weird as that sounded. Jarvis was familiar. "When did Mr. Stark decide to make me CEO when he is absent? And why me? He'd only known me for two months!"

There was a momentary pause before Jarvis' voice returned. "He turned up to the meeting with the French diplomats – twenty minutes late. You were explaining the Physics and science behind the latest weapon which we'd been studying the week previously. But you were speaking in French on top of that. Mr. Stark enquired with me if I knew anything about this and I informed him of your studies into anything he creates. I believe it is then he realised that you were not only very bright and capable but that you could probably do the entire business side without much fuss, if he'd let you. Ever since then he has held you in the highest regard, Ms. Potts. And if I may add – he never would have written this for Obadiah. He did not think him as capable as you, Ms. Potts. Not one of the PA's he has had over the years have been as talented, as strict and organised or as efficient as you. He suddenly found he did not have to do anything and you would literally organise him and everything in his life around him without him needing to do anything. For the first time he found his company running smoothly even when he hadn't been paying attention. You represented him in a meeting about a subject you only knew about for two months in a foreign language. And the diplomats left the meeting positively – happy with Stark Industries and what it stood for. You gave him the freedom to concentrate on creating and inventing which he didn't have before. He saw you and compared you to everyone else he knew for the job. You, Ms. Potts, outshone everyone else by far."

She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Silent tears ran down her face as she silently cursed that Mr. Stark was good at playing around but couldn't tell her this to her face. Though part of her was glad he wasn't seeing her now – in her anxiousness she'd started playing with her so that was now a mess, tears coursing down her face, red eyes and she'd rubbed at her eyes in a vain attempt to stop the tears causing her to smear Mascara and make up everywhere. In a sudden bout of fury she pulled off her right high heel and threw it at Tony's desk, cursing. "You stupid little bastard!" As quick as the anger had come, it was just as quick to disappear. She now found herself sobbing quietly. "Where is he, Jarvis? Is he going to come back? Is he... Is he being tortured? Oh god, do you think he is alright? Jarvis?" She was seeking reassurance from an artificial intelligence. She was 90 % certain he had not been programmed for that. After today she couldn't really ever say again that she was 100 % certain about anything Tony did or had done. What a mess.

"My search parameters have not been triggered yet, Ms. Potts. That means whilst we have not located him as yet, he has also not been found dead. He is alive, somewhere, Ms. Potts. People are usually kidnapped for a reason – either money from the remaining relatives or their special skills – in Mr. Stark's case his inventiveness or his knowledge. We have not received any demand for money so the second case is more likely. And as you well know, Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark takes time to create something new. If they need him to divulge knowledge he may be ... given physical incentives, but it's unlikely as Mr. Stark is one of the few individuals on this planet who is both engineer and inventor. They would be much better off having him build it himself. If he is creating something from scratch to their specifications this may well take months." Yep. Reassurance was not part of Jarvis' admittedly extensive repertoire.

Even still she found herself somewhat calmer. Tony had faith in her, believed in her. And there was a good chance that no matter how long this took, he'd return to her-them. To Stark Industries. With a nod to herself she pulled herself up on the door handle before collecting her stray high heel. "Thank you, Jarvis." Now she just needed to keep that confidence for however long it took. "I hope he knows we believe in him." She went to his mirror to straighten herself as much as possible before she went to the bathroom and into public. "I am certain he does, Ms. Potts. Mr. Stark's ego has never been plagued by self-doubt before. A kidnapping would not be the likeliest place for him to start doing so."She smiled to herself. That was true. Ego was something Mr. Stark had never been lacking in. "Thank you." With that Virginia Potts, Interim CEO for Stark Industries, left the office and faced the world.

/****/***$%/*/*****/  
The day had seemed endless between the well-wishers and congratulators she had employees trying to gauge her, evaluate her and compare themselves to her. A smile had seemed permanently frozen to her lips as she elegantly slipped into the back of the car Happy was driving. With a sigh of sheer exhaustion she stretched across the backseat. "The world has gone nuts, Happy." Happy cast her a quick glance as he merged seamlessly into the traffic around them. "I won't ask how your day was then, Pep." He gave her a quick smile as she rolled her eyes and snorted in a very unladylike manner. "But seriously Happy – Obadiah is waiting for me to fail – no, he's setting me up to fail. Tony's missing and I'm dumped into the middle of a PR disaster that could prove to make me crash and burn before I ever got a chance. Everything is moving so fast and I never thought I'd say this but I just want Tony back. He actually _likes_ dealing with the press – heck, he's fantastic at it. I feel like everything at the company is currently running headfirst towards unmitigated disaster and I don't know how to put on the brakes fast enough." The redhead had untied her hair and was currently combing through it to soothe herself, the repetitive action oddly calming.

"Wow. Don't sugarcoat it for me or anything, boss-lady!" That provoked a laugh out of her, cheeks flushing slightly. "Sorry Happy. I didn't mean to rant." Tony's – and now her – Chauffeur grinned widely. "Yeah you did. I can't really help with the running of the company. I am much more of a hands-on kinda guy but I can provide a listening ear and bad jokes. Don't worry – it's all part of my job description. Seriously – Mr. Stark put it in my contract and everything." Pepper leaned forward "He didn't. He wouldn't dare... Actually, on second thought – he would. Sorry Happy. But I think an ear would be quite helpful."

"Actually, if you ever run into any trouble and I'm not nearby, Pepper, get Andrew from Security. He has a Black Ops background and I would trust him with my life – and yours. He is very good and loyal with an incredibly analytical mind and good strategist. Also get in touch with Mark from HR. He's technically only a trainee but he's quick on his feet and he's already got a lot of favours from people and is very well connected within Stark Industries. Tony was his idol but the boy himself has two left hands when it comes to machines. Hence, HR. But if you need to find out anything or need someone to help you – he's the guy."

Pepper Potts stared at Happy Hogan. She'd always known he socialised with the others for his boss, found out news etc for him. But she'd never expected these contacts or this sort of information. "Impressed ya, didn't I?" Happy chuckled and winked at her. "Just one of my many talents. Stark often sent me into other companies if he was looking for employees to find ones that would fit. It's how we found you." This made Pepper stop entirely. "Wait, no – I responded to a job advertisement on the Internet. It wasn't even sent to me. How could he possibly have arranged that?" Happy nodded. "True. Sort of. He found out which sites you frequented and easily hacked your computer so if you'd look no matter which one you'd open his position for you came up. This was of course after in depth research about what needed to be written into the job description to entice you to apply for it."

Not knowing what to say was something that seemed to happen to her way too often today. Head in her hands she rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the tiredness and fatigue that seemed to have spread throughout her body without her permission. "So you're saying all this" She made an all encompassing gesture with her right hand "was orchestrated by Mr. Stark?" Happy nodded. "He saw you working for your old boss at one of these boring conferences and he told me and Jarvis to find out who you were. He'd never had a redhead working for him before and he was of the opinion that that was all he needed to break his spell of PA's that didn't work out. Turns out he was kinda right."

"Pah. I'd have never staid if I didn't enjoy the challenge and your companionship." They had arrived at the Stark mansion so she exited the vehicle. "You sure you want to be alone tonight, Ms. Potts?" Happy offered out of friendship, not anything more and she knew that. Part of her wanted to accept but a bigger part of her knew that she wouldn't be able to deal with her emotions and thoughts if he was there with her. With a sad smile, she rejected his offer and sent him on his way.

/****/***$%/*/*****/  
Soon after her arrival at the house she'd eaten some quick Chinese food before moving towards the lab without further thought. It was only once she'd stepped in that she realised she'd be alone here as much as upstairs. No Anthony Stark. She found herself stumbling forwards before she turned around quickly, heart in her throat. She'd been pushed. Instead of a threatening intruder – as she had half-imagined – she found herself face to face with Dummy. One of Tony's robots. He whirred sadly as he pushed against her again making a range of sounds she couldn't interpret. Dummy had always seemed to her like a small two year old nephew who just didn't understand why it's parents were yelling at each other. "Oh dear. Dummy, You, Butterfingers. I am sorry I didn't come to you sooner." Part of her felt silly but when the machines all moved towards her, touching her body where they could to get reassurance she realised she was doing the right thing. Tony – in all his wisdom – had given them emotions. They felt abandoned. Poor things.

"We'll find Tony and we'll bring him back. Not now but soon." When Dummy whirred slightly excitedly and kept bumping her and Butterfingers kept touching her arm whilst You seemed fascinated by her hair. With a brave smile and suppressing tears she started "Did he ever tell you about the time he fell into a big 8 tier birthday cake?" She giggled when they all stopped and seemed to focus on what she was saying. "Tony had been invited by one of his ... liaisons to her Birthday party. As far as I knew at the time he'd not intended to attend as he was meeting up with Rhodey. Of course, as always when they're together they only egg each other on. So they were apparently doing body shots in a strip club and entering a drinking competition after which they started a riot and got kicked out – no they didn't throw any punches. I believe Happy got them out to quickly. Anyway, then they had this great idea 'Hey, let's go to this Birthday party – I bet they have got a great party going!' so whilst Happy drives them there he calls me and as I go into the front entrance I see Tony, down to his boxershorts on a stage in what appears to be an auction. In his usual manner he tries to impress only drunk Tony is a lot less suave and coordinated then he would like to think so" She giggled, remembering the scene quite clearly. "he- he stumbled over his own feet, catches himself but his foot got caught in the cable to the mic stand and he falls over, face first right into this bright PINK cake which had about 8 tiers to it. Rhodey was on the floor with laughter – after a momentary shock half the room joined him." She grinned as the machines made whirring noises around her, greatly amused at this side to their creator they usually never saw. "The birthday girl – I think her name was Jess – was furious. At first. Then she suggested that everyone lick the cake off him. Even Tony looked horrified at the crowd of fangirls advancing on him." She burst into even greater laughter, tears coming out of the corner of her eyes, remembering Tony's face then. She'd been half tempted to take photographs and just watch. "Then I swooped in and rescued the big damsel in distress. It was incredibly hard to keep those pictures out of the press."

The machines seemed happier but it made her realise that she would need to spend time with them as well. She played with them a bit whilst talking to Jarvis. "I need you to help me learn everything about the Jericho and any other new toys he's invented. Is there anything else he recently developed which we could release?" With Jarvis' help she worked out a tentative plan of attack – figuratively speaking, of course – for the next few weeks and went over her meeting schedule so she could see which meetings she would need extra preparation for and whose biographies and companies she needed to study. She felt exhausted just looking at the plans as she said her goodbye's to the robots who were looking much cheerier.

/****/***$%/*/*****/  
Part of her felt as though she'd given all of herself to other people, she had no happiness left in herself. She felt drained and exhausted as Pepper hadn't in a long, long time. Part of her so needed the reassurance from the man who believed her so highly capable he had given her his job. Most people saw a secretarial or admin position as dumb and below them but Tony hadn't. He'd sought her out specifically and after only two months entrusted her with his entire company. It was him she needed now. For him to tell her she could do this, because despite everyone's words today she still felt strangely hollow. Arguing, debating and diplomacy had taken up all of herself all day today and it had not been fun. She loved debating – she'd been part of the debates club at her school but this had been different. There had been no ultimate goal – if she made one person see that she wasn't a dumb person who could barely string two sentences together (though how did they think Tony had kept her on for this long if not for her secretarial skills – actually, stupid thought) the next one would be just around the corner trying to prove her to be a dim bimbo.

Noiselessly she slipped into Tony's bedroom. Of course she had been in this room numerous times – Tony absolutely refused to get rid of his passionate late night companions himself. Instead she'd found herself sneaking in, gathering clothes strewn everywhere and having them laundered before waking up that nights flavour. So yes, she had seen his bedroom more often than she cared to admit but it had never been this desolate. The cleaning staff had cleaned his room top to bottom as soon as he was on his plane to Afghanistan. Now it still held definitely Tony's style – screens, schematics, bits and screwdrivers everywhere but it still felt despairingly empty. With a resigned sigh she slumped onto the ground next to the huge floor-to-wall windows showing a black ocean with waves violently crashing into cliffs.

She couldn't help but wonder what poor Tony was being put through just now. Normally he hated pity but at the moment all her mind's eye could see was Tony running and the bomb exploding. She'd half seen his body being thrown before the picture was gone. Had he been injured? Would he receive medical care? What if they couldn't fix him? Her hands had started shaking and she soon notices that there were tears running down her face. Tony was in the company of kidnappers somewhere, possibly being hurt beyond her imagination and she couldn't help him. She could feel the pain in her heart, it was as if there was a hollow, demanding attention. All her mind could repeat was "Tony, Tony, Tony" and all her eyes could see was blackness with no Tony.

It was her secret. She was not strong. She was not confident or self-assured. Pepper Potts was not strong enough to keep fighting, to keep her head up and plower ahead despite the obstacles, despite there being no end in sight. Because secretly she had always had one mantra in her head "for Tony". And Tony was not here and she didn't know if it would ever be alright again. All the fight had left her and all she wanted to do was curl up and beg Tony to come back. Everything seemed so hopeless and she didn't know anyone she could share with. Now that she was the CEO everything was up to her and all the decisions on her head – if she fired someone or if she – god forbid – bankrupted the company she would be responsible for people without employment, families without food. That thought made her snort slightly as she said out loud "You're not god, Virginia." When she was upset she tended to get a tad bit melodramatic but she hadn't really been able to stop herself. "What was that, Ms. Potts?" Jarvis' voice startled her and she quickly wiped her eyes, even though she knew he'd already seen it all. "Jarvis!" She paused, uncertain how to proceed. Finally, still feeling melancholy she decided "can you turn your eyes and ears off for this room? And Jarvis – no word to Tony on his return or you will find your cables missing." She didn't even know if he had cables, but figured the sentiment would carry nonetheless. "Certainly, Ms. Potts. I bid you goodnight." A slight sound she supposed meant that he had turned everything off.

Pepper waited another moment anyway before taking one of Tony's shirts and curling up on his bed in a foetal position, the shirt held up to her nose every now and then to remember the unique smell that was Tony Stark. That night and most of the following nights, Pepper cried herself to sleep in Tony's bedroom knowing that in the morning she would get presentable again, smile, look confident about Tony's return despite whatever people may say, and fight whosoever dared to cross her. Yet part of her knew that with Tony's absence her entire being had reduced to one thing: Tony, Tony, Tony. He would come back and he would find things as he left or better. Not worse. She wouldn't allow it. His faith in her would not be without cause. She wouldn't – no, couldn't let him down.

And no – she still didn't want to sleep with him. Who'd want to sleep with such Casanova anyway? Well, as long as no one saw her sleeping in his bedroom she'd be fine because otherwise they may start having trouble believing her and she couldn't have that. She couldn't question anything else about herself; not now. Focus on Tony – hold, not in that way. Focus on Tony ABOVE the belt line.

She'd be okay. Pepper would keep believing and fighting for the man even if everyone else gave up. But that was okay. Because she had friends – they couldn't help her being a better CEO, but they could ground her. Happy, Jarvis, Rhodey kept her focussed, clear headed and most importantly, hoping. You, Butterfingers and Dummy kept her laughing and happy. And really, life was okay. Most of the time she could handle everything and if she needed the occasional jumper-stealing, bed-borrowing, tear laden moment then no one could really deny her those.

/****/***$%/*/*****/  
See you next time. Please review. Hope you appreciate the more paragraphed text.


	3. Never leave a man behind

Sorry for the long wait. Long work week and I got a bit caught up with my other fanfiction.

Anyway, this Chapter is dedicated to:

MJClaire

thewarpedmind1 (thank you for your second review J)

Trinilynn

JustAlilFan

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Pepper leant back in her swivel chair.

"Jarvis, do the parameters I gave you give you anything on Tony?"

The Artificial Intelligence seemed to sigh – almost.

"Miss Potts, I have only just put in the data. I should be able to supply you with results by 6:32 a.m. tomorrow morning."

The redhead nodded absentmindedly.

"I know they're still looking for Islamic fundamentalists, but have you found any organisations which might be responsible?"

Jarvis paused whilst Pepper rubbed her eyes, exhaustion pressing on her.

"So far I have found one particular terrorist organisation that seems to have obtained Stark Industries weaponry: The Ten Rings. Their leader is known as Raza." he was brought up on the big screen in front of her. She studied his face but it blurred with all the other faces she'd been seeing over the months. He had a cruel twist to his lips and cold eyes but nothing could tell her if he was capable of kidnapping a world renowned weapons manufacturer. Or if he'd still be alive in this guy's hands. "They tend to attack smaller towns and villages in Afghanistan – sometimes they kidnap men. Women are either raped, sometimes kept as slaves or helpers, but most of them are eliminated right away along with the children though they have been known to keep both alive on rare occasions to put pressure on the men. The Afghan government has been unsuccessful in bringing anyone from their organisation in except for some of it younger members, but they have no valuable information to divulge."

Pepper nodded, absorbing the knowledge. She had looked at so many faces, so many groups in the last few months that may or may not be involved in Tony's capture. None of them stood out as more horrific or less. Some focused on slave trade, some on child labour, some on torture. Some liked going for hospitals or schools when they used bigger targets. All of it twisted her stomach; all of it was less than promising for Tony's health and wellbeing. Part of her hoped that Mr. Stark would return and change the direction of his company. She didn't know how much longer she could stand looking at these images and videos, how much longer she could stand knowing she contributed to this huge loss of life, this senseless destruction and horror.

"Any videos?"

Jarvis didn't respond verbally but instead magnified one of the screens to show her six videos. She forced herself to watch all of them – know thy enemy and all that. Immediately her eyes picked out the SI logo on the weapons. Some of the others had had a few weapons as well but this organisation stood out from the rest simply by the fact that ALL their weapons were Stark Industries. Pepper studied the videos intensely after that, making sure she wrote down the names and anything else distinguishable she noticed on these people. Maybe these were the ones that had Tony? Maybe they'd find a way to get him back?

"Jarvis, have you got any news from them in the last few months? Any patterns of where their home base is situated?" Pepper felt something akin to excitement rush through her.

"They have been fairly quiet throughout the last six months, Miss Potts which seems unusual for the pattern this group has established over the last nine years. As to their home base – it seems fairly interchangeable, unfortunately. The only constant so far has been that it was always deep into the mountains."

She nodded, not having expected to be able to obtain even this much information. At last, something that might help Rhodey. He hadn't called her for two weeks now and finally she could call him.

"Thank you Jarvis. Please call Rhodey."

"Of course, Miss Potts. I will have the information ready to be sent to him once your call has finished."

The dial tone echoed in the empty workshop and she could hear Dummy whirr next to her in confusion at what was going on. She never usually called Rhodey in here.

He picked up after the second ring and before he could call out a greeting she interrupted.

"Rhodey, mountains. Check near the mountains. There is this terror organisation called-"

She'd ignored Rhodey's three previous uses of her name but when he shouted it the fourth time, she halted involuntarily.

"They've stopped the search. I meant to tell you but with everything you were dealing with I didn't want to add even more to it."

Rhodey sounded bitter. And he had every right to – they'd called the search off? After everything Tony had done for them they gave up after a measly 2 ½ months? What was this?

"What do you mean they've stopped? I presume you don't mean for the night. You really should've called me but it's okay, we'll figure it out. I'll call up the General and with a donation I'm sure we could-"

"Pepper, I have been at them for 2 fucking weeks. They don't care. They are still getting weapons from Stark Industries and yeah, they're not as spectacular as when Tony invented them nor are they outstripping their competition by a large margin anymore but bottom line is that they're still getting what they want and they figure they've spent enough time and resources on finding Tony. I have been put on suspension for arguing with a superior officer and am trying to keep searching for Tony. But damn, this is all fucked up. It wasn't meant to be like this." Rhodey knew better than anyone else that Tony wasn't exactly well versed in fighting – except for bar fights. He didn't know the reality of war except for in the abstract way that numbers and figures provided. He'd never really been confronted with the reality and Tony did not handle these things well. Not well at all.

Pepper sighed, the exhaustion just kept getting worse. She now realised she'd also woken Rhodey up as it was only early morning there.

"Jarvis, transfer money into an account for Rhodey. Rhodey, we'll send helicopters and pilots across to you along with a medic team on standby. I really should've thought of this earlier! For the next day just look at some maps to see where you want the helicopters. I'll send 8 across to you, anymore and I'll have a fight with the Afghan government, I think. They've been suspicious enough in my last phone calls about spies and interfering with their governing bodies." Rubbing her left shoulder she tried to relax the taunt muscles that kept pulling at her neck.

"Jarvis found a terrorist organisation called the Ten Rings which seems to have a huge amount of SI weapons. They tend to nest in the mountains, quite deep in. Hence why I am sending you helicopters – you'll need to go quite low to see anything. I've been looking at the mountain ranges with the satellites but there's too much overhang for me to see much of anything."

She was grateful when Rhodey did nothing but acquiesce. She wouldn't have handled it well if Rhodey was having doubts about Tony's continued survival as well – though she doubted he'd share them with her.

"Thanks, Rhodey. Give me a call in a week's time for an update or call anytime if you need anything else."

They hung up shortly afterwards. Pepper still hadn't been able to figure out how these bastards had obtained the weapons. She'd gone through the logs, compared them to the manufacturing logs and statistics of previous months even, just in case someone had erased them from both. But there was no large discrepancy, nothing amiss. How had Stark Industries lost weapons without actually having lost any? It made no sense.

With a sigh she decided she'd need to get two hours of sleep at least before convincing the Afghan government of her plans. And four hours after that was another press conference –sharks, the lot of them. She still didn't understand why Tony had slept with that one reporter just before he'd left though he'd never made much of a distinction in what profession his paramour's were in. Why start now?

With a smile she noticed that Dummy was already next to her, holding the pillow she'd left down here for Stark when she noticed he'd frequently fallen asleep down here.

"Thanks, Dummy." She couldn't help but smile when she noticed that Butterfingers and You brought her an entire duvet across. The robots were beyond lonely. Tony spent sometimes days down here and all she could afford was a few hours here and there – there was simply too much to do. She'd even contemplated hiring a secretary for herself but she didn't have enough time to do the interviews, which was just sad in and of itself.

With a smile to the robots she stretched across the backseat of one of the many beautiful cars Tony had restored over the years and shook off her stiletto heels. With an instruction to Jarvis to wake her up she fell asleep and was dead to the world.

The two hours were over quickly and it took the combined efforts of You and Butterfingers to wake her up. She was glad she had as she saw Dummy racing across the grounds with the water hose. Unfortunately she had to admit it wasn't her first experience with Dummy's more interesting methods of waking her up.

"No- Dummy, no!" Despite her protests she still felt herself sprayed with the icy water before Dummy stopped.

Spluttering with the water in her mouth, she stared at the robots, red hair plastered to her face and hanging heavily around her head whilst her clothes were thoroughly drenched. Just fantastic. At least she felt more awake.

At the machine's sad whirring noise she rolled her eyes slightly. She could understand why Tony had grown so fond of these even if she still found it hard to believe how young he'd been when he built these.

"It's okay. I needed to wash anyway" she found herself saying as she made her way upstairs to the showers and a change of clothes. It was always easier to act more professionally when she was dressed like it – even if the other party couldn't see her.

She still could remember too vividly seeing Tony naked for the first time. They had been working together for five months and it was turning out to be another late night. She was just finished printing some more paperwork that required his signature before tomorrow, when she had become more aware of the noises in the room behind her.

About half an hour ago, at midnight, she had taken the time to have a very late dinner in the kitchen a few rooms away in an attempt to quench her hunger and keep her brain operational. She'd never eat at her desk – she had nightmares with noodle spread across important paperwork, so no; just no, not happening.

As she had only just returned ten minutes ago she had not been particularly focused on Mr. Stark's office but now she was intrigued. The noises were too muffled to make out but her overactive imagination was quick to supply her with potential burglars.

Deciding to ensure that everything was okay and it was probably simply Jarvis that Mr. Stark was interacting with, she grabbed the paperwork she needed signed and entered his room. The sight in front of her had her stopping entirely; she could've sworn even her heart and breathing stopped. Before her was an entirely naked Anthony Stark. Not only that but he had busty brunette on his knees in front of him and a pale blonde all wrapped around him, kissing him. He was moaning and so was the blonde, the brunette made different noises. She absorbed all this in shock, but her hands shook and she dropped her clipboard with the paperwork to the ground.

The noise of her dropping the paperwork to the floor, eyes wide and cheeks flushed in furious anger made them suddenly take notice of her. After a flabbergasted moment where even Tony seemed somewhat embarrassed, he took hold of himself and sent her his most charming smile. Whilst her brain was still trying to grasp that she caught her boss in a threesome in his office, naked with huge windows which could potentially mean the paparazzi was catching this entire fiasco on film right now, Tony started talking.

"Want to join us, Miss Potts?" He even dared to wriggle his eyebrows at her. That snapped her out of her stupor quickly.

"You- I think that'll be all for tonight, Mr. Stark" she said in a tightly controlled voice as she crossed over to his desk and dumped the paperwork on his desk. "I expect those signed prior to the meeting tomorrow."

With that she'd left his office in a hurry and closed the door firmly. She only paused long enough to grab her purse and jacket, whilst hitting the speed dial for Happy on her way out. He had dared to have sex whilst she was outside working – she'd thought he'd been hard at work too! That stupid, stupid bastard! She would make sure to schedule all the meetings he absolutely hated with the most slimy business man she could find for the next week - that much was certain. He'd learn not to piss off the PA that was in control of his life.

Grim satisfaction flooded her as she finished the call with their Japanese clients –she had invited them for the day after tomorrow. These were ones Tony had been holding off on for three months so she knew he didn't like them. Yes, it was petty, but it made her feel so much better.

The next day Jarvis informed her that Tony had now given her full access anywhere and everywhere. Anytime she wanted to know where Tony was, Jarvis would tell her. Not even Mr. Stane had that amount of access to Tony's artificial butler. It worked wonders towards soothing her especially once she saw Tony the next day with dropping shoulders and puppy dog eyes, like a boy who had been caught with his hand dipping in the cookie jar – or two cookie jars as the case may be.

But after that she'd made sure that Tony knew not to have sex in his office anymore and it became one of their rules. They didn't have many as Tony lived to destroy rules but they had a few which they'd agreed on and which even Tony wouldn't dare cross anymore.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

It hit her whilst she was on the phone with the Afghan ministry that they had hit the three months mark yesterday. After convincing and bribing her way through the ministry she finally received official permission for the helicopters and her teams to fly in. She called on Jarvis to organise them and included Andrew – the ex-black ops security guy working at Starks Industries in the team.

Three months. Not 2 ½, 3 long months. A part of her wondered if she would ever get the chance to see Tony again. She missed him and his antics. Once, when he'd been really bored she'd found herself sitting down in her office chair only to hear a loud farting noise. She'd been incredulous to find a whoopee cushion beneath her. A whoopee cushion! She challenged anyone who thought he didn't act like a five year old to explain that one. Needless to say Tony still insisted that even the engineers on the first floor had heard her scream his name from the fifteenth floor. It had, however, taught her to never, ever leave Tony with nothing to do. She was probably half the reason he had so many cars in his basement – whenever he'd get bored she'd order another one that was more than scrap worthy through Jarvis from their local scrap yard. At one point she used to send him on holidays or business travel when he got bored but the fiasco with the strippers in Cuba had quickly taught her differently. She had to work day and night for two weeks to stop that from becoming a global incident. Since then he got old cars whenever he got too bored.

But Tony was endlessly entertaining, bored or not and he loved needling her and flirting with her. She enjoyed the attention and the easy rapport the two shared. They both knew they'd never start anything with the other as neither of them had any intention of ruining the good relationship they had.

Tony had always been a very physical person – she thought that was probably why he built the robot arms and why he slept around so much. His father had never been very hugging, more focused on building and creating than physical interactions with his son. With Rhodey he got the odd 'manly' slap on the shoulder. The robots pushed and played with him. His... companions at night gave him most of the contact.

Back in high school Pepper had a friend who similarly always craved human touch. She was so used to incorporating it into her every-day-behaviour, she hadn't thought twice about it once she'd recognised the same signs in him. Pepper started touching his hands when she handed over paperwork – her hands still tingled and it stole her breath away the first time she'd done it. She remembered the way his head had snapped up as she made contact, his eyes fiery in their intensity as they focussed on solely her. From then on she brushed his back slightly when she walked behind him or touched his shoulder or arm when she talked to him.

Tony sometimes came very close and into her personal space until he was only separated by a hairs breadth from her. Those days she knew he'd find someone to spend the night with. But the man had such an intoxicating presence about him, it still sent her heart speeding and caused her eyes to dilate.

On a few, very few occasions she'd been allowed to hug him. Ironically enough, Tony was very aware of his personal space and who invaded it. He allowed it, especially with women but he was very aware of anything they did, how they moved. He didn't like hugs in the sense that they seemed to make him uncomfortable. They made her uncomfortably aware of him too, and send her senses reeling but he seemed to think of them as pity or weakness, she wasn't sure what it was exactly but he refused it most times. He only allowed them when it looked as though she was the one needing one.

Those were the memories she found herself chatting to Dummy, You and Butterfingers about as she tried to calm herself down enough for the upcoming press conference.

Suddenly Jarvis interrupted her mindless chatter.

"Miss Potts, it seems as though Mr. Stane has rearranged the press conference for an hour earlier. They are expected in fifteen minutes."

Pepper cursed as she put her heels on. She'd been prepared for the last few hours but it would've been very plausible for her to still be asleep. Obadiah Stane had kept pulling innocent stunts such as this one over the last three months and she was sick to the teeth of this man.

Checking her makeup, clothes and hair were all still in order as Butterfingers seemed to currently be the one fascinated with pulling apart single strands of her hair, she quickly moved up from the workshop. Checking her clothes one last time she left the mansion and met the crowd of reporters outside.

"Good Morning and thank you all for coming here this morning. My apologies for the last minute rescheduling but another meeting took precedence."

With a smile at the reporters she put her hands on the podium, hiding her shaking hands behind it. Reporters are sharks and sharks smell fear she kept telling herself, smiling at them. Calm, controlled. You are in charge, Pepper. Get a grip.

"The military has ceased their search due to the large expenditure of resources. Stark Industries are very grateful for the American government and its military for spending two months scouring the depths of Afghanistan for one man. Stark Industries has now taken up the mantle. We dispatched our helicopters this morning and have obtained the permission of the Afghan government to continue the search for Anthony Stark. We have a lead but cannot divulge any further information beyond that at this point in time. Stark Industries will, in the mean time, keep up the manufacture of weapons and hospital equipment. Our engineers are some of the leading experts worldwide and our position as market leader remains strong." With the she elaborated on their latest figures and newest partners. 10 minutes later she opened the floor to questions.

"Miss Potts, is it true that you don't expect to recover Mr. Stark alive?"

"Miss Potts, what about the allegations that Stark Industries is selling weapons to the highest bidder?"

"Miss Potts, have you seen the destructions Mr. Stark's latest weapons can cause? The Jericho is intended solely for taking lives, not maintaining peace!"

"Miss Potts, when will _you_ call off the search for Mr. Stark?"

"Miss Potts, according to statistics the chances of recovering victims of kidnapping after such a long time alive are slim to none. What do you think?"

Pepper kept the smile on her face but only with a lot of effort. She addressed the last question first, reminding herself to remain polite.

"I think Mr. Stark has always been good for a surprise. He will probably annoy his kidnappers sufficiently they'll be glad to let him go." That drew a few chuckles from the reporters who had seen that side of Tony more often than not.

"On a serious note, I think Anthony Stark is certainly stubborn enough to survive and find his way back to Stark Industries. The statistics are against him, but there have been a fair few cases of victims recovered alive after over a year." She smiled. "As to your question of when I'd call of the search. Stark Industries will never give up on its rightful CEO, the son of the founder. We will search high and low for years, if need be. Mark my words, we will find Anthony Stark and we will bring him back to America. Our only mistake was letting him go in the first place." Patriotism always seemed to work. And keep smiling, Pepper, she told herself before tackling the next question.

"I have seen the effect of the Jericho, however I am certain that our government will only use it when it is required and when they need to. Yes, it causes destruction but that is the goal of it. It is there for occasions when our forces are overwhelmed and this will be their only solution and a way to escape. All the weapons are only there to keep our men and women abroad as safe as possible." God, who would actually believe these lines? Weapons only ever bred more destruction. She'd always been far more comfortable with the non-weapon orientated inventions.

"We only sell weapons the US military and other governments that the US is in partnership with. I assure you, there are no biddings involved. As to your first question – no. That is certainly not true, not for me personally nor for Stark Industries. We fully expect to recover Mr. Stark alive. If that is all, then I would like to thank you at this point for taking the time to come here and-"

"Miss Potts, is it true that you sleep at Mr. Stark's house?" It was that Brown graduate that Tony had slept with. Instinctively, Pepper disliked her.

Raising an eyebrow, the redhead turned back to the reporter. All the other ones were now holding their microphones up again, eager for some dirty laundry.

"If you mean to ask if I work there until 4 a.m. and then come out for press conferences at 7 a.m. then my answer is yes, I sleep there. However, I am sure you have a much more personal and better experience of sleeping in this mansion and Mr. Stark's bed specifically, if I recall correctly, if that is what you're after."

A murmur lifted up in the crowd as everyone stared at their fellow, now blushing reporter. With a quick thank you Pepper disappeared whilst the sharks descended onto one of their own, having smelt blood.

"Very well done, Miss Potts, if I may so. I am afraid to announce that the new parameters have not yielded anything further beyond what we already knew." Jarvis spoke up as soon as she had entered the halls.

Pepper laughed. "Thanks, Jarvis. I think we already have a good chance of finding Tony now." She rubbed her head lightly.

"Jarvis, as I have no meetings planned I think I will go grab another few hours sleep, if I can." She took off her shoes as she walked to Tony's bedroom already well used to the path her feet took.

Walking into his bedroom, she still felt as though she was surrounded by the man.

"Hey Tony. We'll find you soon." Jarvis closed the blinds and shut off the camera in the room to leave her to herself.

She spent the next few hours crying, talking, laughing and occasionally sleeping, clutching onto a jumper she'd gifted him with ("Ooh, does this mean we're going steady, Miss Potts?") and a photograph she'd taken once when she'd seen him showing off his hot rod to Rhodey, shirt covered in black oil and grease marks, arms before, mouth open in a wide smile and eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

Part of her wondered what it meant if you were talking to an empty room but for the most part she needed the time to have her emotional breakdowns every now and then and she'd agreed with herself to not worry about it any further beyond that.

It was only three days later that Rhodey called her to tell her that they'd found him. Alive.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Yay! I finally wanted Tony back in the story. Sorry. We'll probably keep having flashbacks to her three months alone but hey, it's only half as fun without Tony to throw some stones in the way.

Hope you enjoyed this – let me know what you think J


	4. The Return

Yep – this one is for the week I made you wait.

This chapter is dedicated to my newest and latest reviewers:

Dingaling11 and Belle97 (thank you for leaving me two reviews and thanks for the encouragement. Hope you like this latest chapter!)

Some of these words are taken directly from the Ironman movie – once again, neither movie nor characters within belong to me. I don't make any money from this.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Pepper still felt stunned but couldn't deny the elation coursing through her body.

"Did you hear me, Pepper? We found him! We got Tony and he's all right. We'll be there in three hours." She could hear the relief in his voice – Rhodey had been as uncertain as her, and she could tell he was overjoyed at having found his friend again.

"I- Thank you Rhodey. I'll organise everything on this end." The tears were running freely down her face, but her smile was wide as she tore off her shoes to run down into the workshop.

"You! Butterfingers! Jarvis! Dummy! They found him, they got Tony and he's okay!" The machines whirred around her excitedly whilst she was still on her emotional high. Everything would be alright now.

Rubbing her eyes, she decided she needed everything perfect for when Tony returned. And most importantly, he could never find out she'd slept in either the workshop or the bedroom.

Her eyes widened in a panic. She'd forgotten.

"Jarvis – the bedroom. Please have the room cleaned top to bottom and all his clothes washed and hung back up."

The artificial intelligence paused before replying, obviously somewhat amused at her.

"It is being done as we speak."

"Good, good... Oh, and have them gather my clothes and send them back to my apartment. And oh god."

Frantically, Pepper closed the car doors, grabbed the pillow and duvet she'd used to bring it upstairs with her for the cleaners to wash. Then she ran into the shower to pull out her personal cosmetics, shampoos, shower gels and tooth brush. With one last sweep, she deemed it safe, before running into Tony's bedroom which already had their three cleaners in it, gathering clothes in bundles.

She greeted them hastily whilst grabbing the photograph she'd left on the floor by the window. Then she ran down again, dumped it all in a pile to take to her apartment.

"Jarvis, hide all the things I worked on. I know you have to tell Tony if he asks, but no hinting! I still have that high pitched squealing youtube video that sets you on edge if you don't comply!"

Oh dear, threatening and blackmailing an artificial entity. She'd lost her marbles.

Then she blinked and rushed into the kitchen to grab items from the fridge and her favourite mug. She'd really started living her, without noticing. Oh dear. She was bound to miss something.

Happy was parked outside already, awaiting her, but if he was confused as to why she ran towards him barefooted, arms filled with paraphernalia, he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. She skidded slightly, before catching herself and dumping it in the boot of the car.

"Not a word, Happy. This will remain secret, clear?" The chauffeur nodded quietly, obviously amused at seeing his current boss with hair floating everywhere, cheeks flushed, tear tracks on her face, an absurdly wide smile on her lips and clothes askew.

She barely noticed as she ran back in to grab her shoes and grab the one suit she had done for him about a month ago, though she'd asked them to make it much tighter, anticipating that he would have probably lost weight during his captivity as well as one suit which was his usual size. With one shoe on and hobbling towards the car whilst trying to put the other one on whilst keeping up her pace she realised how silly she was.

Tony would not be here for another two and a half hours.

She paused to put her shoes properly, put his two suits in the trunk on top of her things whilst she moved towards Happy.

"They found Tony, Happy. He's coming back. Rhodey is bringing him in." Her smile was wide and her eyes sparkled as she hugged the bodyguard slash chauffeur.

He grinned, though his eyes shone suspiciously. "And here I thought you'd just gone mental."

Pepper snorted, easily amused now that she felt a huge weight had been lifted from her.

"But keep it on the down low for the moment. We're giving Tony time to recover before we throw him to the sharks."

"Tony? On the down low? We talking about the same Tony here? Cause as far as I know he does not do quiet and stealthy."

Pepper laughed. Happy was right. He'd probably be holding a press conference or something similarly stupid within the next few hours.

"Anyway, I need to sort things out at Stark Industries over the next week. I suspect Tony will throw all our plans overboard anyway."

Happy nodded and quickly drove her to the huge appreciated the time this gave her to clean herself up and sort out hair and clothes so she'd at least be semi-presentable. Her hair was still not lying flat, but it would be sufficient for now.

Before going upstairs she asked Happy for a favour and he drove off to Anthony's tailor.

Pepper hastily greeted the receptionists as she moved to the back lift that would take her directly to Tony's office.

Within moments she dropped her purse and jacket over her seat as she moved into his office to dust the room, open the blinds and clear off any paperwork she hadn't had time to deal with yet.

It only took her twenty minutes, which must be some kind of record before she moved onto her own desk.

She quickly flipped through her diary and phoned up clients and partners to postpone business meetings for the next week. Whilst speaking in Japanese on the phone, she sorted quickly through her emails and flipped through her inbox for any urgent paperwork.

After another hour she was done and she dashed towards the elevator. She would only barely make it to the airport with 15 minutes to spare.

Happy was waiting for her down at reception and took only one glance at her before moving towards the car's driver seat.

Pepper realised she would not have enough time to drop off her things but she'd simply have to make sure that the boot of the car remained untouched for now.

"Happy, did you manage to get what I asked for?"

"Yep. Two boxers, one with a tighter waistline than he used to have. And warm, comfortable socks and two different pairs of shoes as per your specs, Miss Potts. I also got the water, lemons and limes and the squeezer you requested." Happy sounded rather puzzled over the last items.

Over the last three months she'd researched a bit – okay, Jarvis researched and presented her with the consolidated findings each time. Anyway, she knew he would have been walking on burning hot sand for hours if not days. His feet would probably be either sensitive or hardened from the walking – two different pairs of shoes depending on how he felt.

Squeezing the lemons and limes into the water jug she explained.

"Adding lemons and limes to water actually hydrates you – once you've become dehydrated your body will literally just flush the water through your system rather than absorbing it. Adding lime and lemon to it, allows your body to rehydrate. Plus, lemons take carcinogens out of your body – the chemicals that cause cancer."

Happy looked at her surprised as she sealed the water bottle after adding ice cubes to it and put it into the fridge.

"Oh, and please stop at that burger place he loves – the one that makes these gigantic cheese burgers; Beanie's Burger Bar I think it was."

Happy grinned as he quickly pulled off the motorway at the next exit down a very familiar route to the aforementioned bar slash restaurant.

Pepper jumped out the back as soon as they pulled to a stop and walked in quickly.

"Ah, Ms. Potts. It's been a long time." Beanie was a nice, portly, elderly man who had quickly taken a liking to Tony and her. She understood the question in his eyes and simply gave a sharp nod to indicate that Tony was back.

"One gigantic cheeseburger coming up – with extra large fries." Beanie disappeared into the kitchen whilst she took a seat on the bar stool. The place was empty so she relaxed slightly.

"Thanks Beanie. He's coming back and he's fine. I thought he'd appreciate having his favourite here. Could you also throw in a salad separately? I am not sure how well he'll stomach everything."

He just nodded as he quickly waved his hand at his kitchen helper who proceeded to prepare the salad.

She was back out in 10 minutes though she'd estimated less time for it she also hadn't expected the place to be empty. It meant Beanie had to heat up the grill before anything else.

Quickly ducking back into the backseat, she put the food into the cabinet at the side to keep it hot until they were at the airport. Right, Pepper, have you forgotten anything? Running through the mental checklists she had compiled she thought she'd done everything except for dropping by her own apartment. She'd even put her phone on silent, a relief she hadn't had in months.

She busied herself fussing and stressing when they arrived at the airport. She pushed her hair down before messily pulling it into a bun, deciding it would do. Her cheeks seemed permanently blushed now and her eyes were decidedly shiny and red. And even she could see the dark circles under her eyes and the crinkles in her blouse. Deciding that there was nothing for it now, she stepped out of the car, anxiously waiting for her boss and friend to return.

When she saw the aircraft approaching her heart sped up and her hands started to get clammy and sweaty. Her mind kept repeating 'Tony, Tony, Tony'.

The moment she saw him step out into the sunlight nothing could have stopped her smile from breaking out. She noticed the bandage around his arm as well as the way he was leaning on Rhodey. He seemed pretty banged up but nothing that couldn't wait. She stepped up to the bottom of the airplane as he let go of Rhodey and walked closer to her. He had lost quite a bit of weight, she noticed.

His eyes – she could tell he'd changed. She wasn't sure in what way, but she could see the loneliness and sadness in them. Biting her bottom lip, she looked up as he came to a stop in front of her.

"Your eyes are red. Tears for your long lost boss?"

She couldn't suppress the grin as she tilted her head slightly, eyes glinting with mischief.

"Tears of joy." That much was true. "I hate job hunting."

She saw the answering glint in his eyes, before he brushed by her, shoulders touching.

"Yeah, well, Vacation's over."

A giggle escaped her in her joy and at the idea that the last three months had been a vacation.

She moved to the trunk and took the tighter suit out along with the corresponding underwear and both pairs of shoes.

Then she joined him in the car and handed him the clothes whilst addressing their chauffeur.

"Happy – to the hospital please."

"Woah, no – not happening, Pep." Tony interjected. "I've been in captivity for three months; there are two places I wanna go. One, an American cheeseburger and secondly, I want to call a press conference."

She scanned him again with her eyes, but she then thought the medics would have told her if he needed any further work done on him.

"Okay to the hospital. And that's your new suit, it should hopefully fit you better then what you're wearing right now. As for the cheeseburger" she opened the cabinet and presented him with the double extra large cheeseburger and the fries.

He stared at her momentarily, before shaking his head with a smirk.

"You know, some people would think this is creepy. I think this definitely comes under the stalker category" he said, holding up his tighter boxershorts – which Tony thought might actually fit perfectly and how weird was that – and the perfect cheeseburger on the other.

Pepper laughed. "Tony, I know your social security number and probably more of your pin codes than you do."

Mouth half full of cheese burger he gesticulated with his left hand.

"I reiterate – stalker!"

Grinning widely at the happy feeling blooming in her chest, she replied "You wish, Tony. If that were the case than you're paying me to stalk you. Didn't know you needed to start paying to get your ego boosts?"

Tony's eyes sparkled and she saw the tense lines in his shoulders slowly relaxing.

"The girls in Afghanistan are a bit harder to sway – especially when I don't speak their language. Charm can only get you so far, you know."

Pepper laughed.

"Happy – home please. I think Mr. Stark needs a shower."

She playfully waved a hand in front of her face, whilst glancing at Tony.

He rolled his eyes. "But after that – press conference."

"Okay.", she acquiesced, though she wondered what he wanted to discuss so urgently.

"You know, Miss Potts, you could help me in the shower..." Tony winked at her, though there was none of his usual jest in his eyes and that caused her to pause just long enough for Tony's eyes to widen and his head to turn to her fully.

"Oh no – don't get any ideas!" Pepper had blushed, realising what impression she'd given by pausing.

Tony's voice was husky and low as he replied, his eyes sweeping over her form.

"Oh, I think it's eight years too late for that."

Momentarily breathless at the fire she saw in his eyes, she hesitated before replying.

"I think Happy will be happy to help you if you require any medical assistance in the bathroom." A smirk was now on her lips as Tony grimaced.

"Ewww, Pepper!" He yelled outraged whilst she laughed, though she could see the smile on his lips.

"Also, I think Dummy, Butterfingers and You need to see you as well before you hold the press conference."

Tony nodded. They arrived at the mansion only minutes afterwards and Pepper took his clothes from him whilst Happy helped him out of the car.

"Welcome home sir!" There was clear relief and warmth in Jarvis' voice. "We have missed you."

Tony's lips twisted into a smile. "Thanks Jarvis. Now, is the bathroom ready?"

"Of course, sir. After all, it hasn't been in use since you were gone." She threw a dark glare at the ceiling at Jarvis' tone of voice and her eyes warned Happy to keep his mouth shut as well.

Luckily, Tony just blinked momentarily before shrugging it off and moving away to the bathroom.

She followed him in and put his clothes to the side and the two pairs of shoes on the floor.

"If you do need any help, Tony, you can call for us – we'll help." Her tone of voice was serious and her eyes held his but she could tell by the glint in his eyes that he wouldn't respond with the same sentiment.

"Why, is that an offer, Miss Potts?" She rolled her eyes good-naturedly before leaving the bathroom.

The maids were just returning with the clean laundry, luckily, as she checked on the progress of Tony's bedroom.

"Thank you, Marta. And sorry for the short notice."

Marta smiled at her and shrugged. "It's not a problem, Virginia. It's just lucky today was a cleaning day anyway. By the way, we binned the takeout food you left on the coffee table."

Pepper's eyes widened and she paled at the oversight.

"Oh god, thank you. I wouldn't want to imagine the inferences Tony would make if he knew I practically lived here for the last few months."

The elderly lady just patted her on her arm and left her behind, speechless when she said "Ah, but the real problem is that he wouldn't be wrong, isn't it?"

Pepper shook her head and tried to get her head back in gear as she pulled out her phone to call yet another press conference.

"Hi, Mike, how are you?" She listened to him for a moment, before interrupting. "Mhm. I don't know if you've heard, but Tony's back. He wants a press conference inside the Atrium of Stark Industries. Could you get everyone there for 4 p.m.?" She nodded and hummed agreeing noises at his question before ending the call.

Mark was fantastic at his job – PR – but he was so chatty it was incredible.

Time to call another, more vicious shark. With a shudder she dialled Obadiah Stane's number.

"Ah, Potts. Would you like me to take over from you as CEO?"

Unbidden, a satisfied smirk adorned her lips as she replied to the most annoying pest that had bugged her over the last months.

"No, actually. I wanted to be the first to tell you the good news that Tony has returned."

She heard his indrawn breath and the pause before he replied how good that was and how he'd come by before hanging up. Slightly confused she stared at her phone. Was he upset that Tony was back? Or simply surprised?

But then Tony came out of the bathroom with damp hair and a surprisingly perfectly fitted suit.

"Should I find it weird that the boxers fit me perfectly? Have you taken stalking to a new level, Pep?" Tony did look slightly confused and creeped out.

Pepper grinned, forgetting about the annoying phone call, knowing her next sentence would provoke an amusing reaction from Tony.

"Nah – it wasn't me who got those for you. It was Happy."

True to her thoughts, Tony shuddered, before looking back at Happy. "Eww. I mean, no offense man, but I am strictly a boobs-man myself. No harm, no foul, right?" He grinned at his chauffeur who just rolled his eyes and helped him to the couch.

"Actually, Pepper – any idea why your hairbrush is in my private bathroom?" Pepper froze and forgot to breathe. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. Holy god damn... She felt like the proverbial rabbit in front of the wolf about to devour her whole.

Luckily, Lucille entered – one of the other maids - and went right up to Mr. Stark.

"Ah, that's where the hairbrush went. Sorry Mr. Stark. I mislaid it whilst cleaning." She snapped it out of his hand and walked back out of the room. As soon as her back was turned to Tony she mouthed Jarvis at her and winked.

Pepper sighed in relief. Disaster momentarily averted. Tony still gave her a momentary stare, gaze confused and surprised and she wasn't sure if the charade had actually convinced him, but then he seemed to shake it off and they went down to the workshop.

The robots swarmed him and showed their affection to which she saw Tony laughingly kneeling down. They had really missed him and they were one of the only ones that he willingly received all types of affection from. Though the wonder in his eyes took her aback when Dummy moved over to greet her and You and Butterfingers joined in with their own whirrs of affection and Butterfingers once again started to go for her hair.

She stepped back after giving each a small pat though, but Tony's eyes were still focussed on her and the adoration that had appeared in them made her eyes drop to the floor; he'd guessed a small part of what she'd done already. How long could she expect to keep the rest from him? Her eyes met his again and she smiled slightly, trying to pretend everything was as it had been before Afghanistan.

"So – what's the press conference for, Mr. Stark?"

This brought a grim smile to his lips and she didn't like it. It spoke of the horrors he'd seen and his eyes had darkened and she did not recognise the look he gave her. It was new, but she catalogued it just like everything else from his new weight, to the way he now walked as she'd always done. She called it her mental Tony Compendium: it contained his quirks, likes and dislikes and all the things she needed to know to anticipate his moves.

"Potts, I– When I was in captivity I met this guy. His name was Yinsen. It was my weapons that killed his family and yet he helped me for three months and died for me." His eyes were dark with shadows of memories flitting through them, as he rubbed his chin.

"I am going to move Starks Industries in a new direction. No more weapons. No more destruction. I-I'm not sure what direction we are going to take, but I want to do something to help people. Not cause more deaths. And I don't know if Obadiah or Rhodey will understand that." He looked at her, conviction and strength in his very posture. His eyes sought out hers, trying to reassure himself which side she was on, that someone was in his corner.

She unwillingly thought back to all those months ago, when Jarvis had told her what Tony really thought of her, why he'd handed her the firm and a soft smile touched her lips as she lightly swatted his arm.

"For a genius, you can be surprisingly dim at times, Mr. Stark. Rhodey and I will be on your side, of course we will be; though you might want to chat to Rhodey before you tell the press. He got himself suspended for you, to keep looking. It would not be a kind way of repaying him if you know tell strangers before you tell him." Pepper sighed slightly, unsure how to talk about Obadiah but also realising that Tony needed to know, above all else. Whilst he would be upset, telling him later would not soften the blow nor would it be of any help to him whatsoever and it would only cause him to distrust her as well.

"As for Mr. Stane – I am not sure if you can trust him to do what's good for you or the company. He likes the weapons market. Do you remember the private meeting minutes I wrote up for you. The first general meeting we had after your capture – he tried to become CEO then and he outlined a plan. Tony- most of that plan involved ideas you had either rejected outright or taken off the table entirely. I don't know why, but I cannot trust him again."

Her blue eyes sought out his brown ones, trying to convince him of the truth in her words. She didn't want to mention her own troubles she'd had with the man over the previous months. It wouldn't do anything but prove that she had a vendetta and that was not what she was trying to say. Then it dawned on her, that there was a much more realistic way of convincing him.

"Jarvis, could you please replay the footage up until Ryan finishes talking?"

The video was up on the screen and started playing before she'd even finished talk. She remained quiet whilst Tony watched, eyes flitting about the place as he absorbed each person's reaction. She left him in silence to contemplate what he'd seen before watching curiously as he turned back to her.

"Well, I'm glad I wrote that document a while back to make you CEO in my absence." His smile was entirely charming and she knew him well enough to see right through that.

"Tony" There was a warning in her tone, but like so many other things he ignored it proficiently.

"Pepper" He shot back in the same tone of voice and she barely resisted the eyeroll.

"You know, when I found out about that document at the meeting in front of everyone else I was fantasizing about throwing stiletto heels at your head."

"Ooh, you were fantasizing about me?"

She groaned. She'd literally handed him that one on a silver platter.

"No, Mr. Stark, contrary to popular belief you are not irresistible."

"Call me Tony again – I liked that much better, more personal, you know. Also are the current bets still that you are lesbian and that is why you don't fancy me?"

That did cause Pepper to laugh. The office gossip was always more interesting to Tony than her though once he'd told her about the wager's made on her sexuality she'd been intrigued herself.

"I actually think they currently favour me being asexual."

With one step Tony was right in her personal space again as he looked down at her, tucking one of her loose strands back behind her hair as she held her breath, breathing in the man in front of her, eyes dilated as she held his gaze.

"Now _that_ would be a real shame."

Against her will she inhaled sharply, eyes widening. Tony must have noticed her deer caught in the headlights look as he simply gave her a wry smile and stepped back slightly, just enough to give her room to breathe again.

"Well, consider me forewarned, Ms. Potts."

"I- You- What?" Completely puzzled, she stared at him, heart still beating erratically.

He raised his eyebrows , obviously amused at her obliviousness.

"Obadiah Stane – consider me forewarned."

"Oh... Oh! Yes. Erm, I believe we should now be getting ready for your press conference."

He outright grinned at her now, enjoying seeing her flustered and having lost her composure.

She quickly moved up the stairs to rejoin happy who was happily munching a sandwich on the couch, watching the news.

"Everything alright, Pepper?"

Even Happy had noticed she was quite flustered – she could see it in his raised eyebrows and the only half suppressed grin.

"Yes, Happy, very funny. Everything's alright. We're going back to Stark Industries for a press conference. Be prepared for a riot afterwards."

Happy paused momentarily, but then tried to ease her tenseness.

"Aren't I always?"

/****/***$%/*/*****/

The car ride over to Stark Industries was quiet as Tony was either contemplating the impending press conference, his phone call with Rhodey or seeing Obadiah Stane again. She wasn't entirely sure which was preferential.

The phone call with Rhodey seemed to have gone over relatively well with the exception that Rhodey still thought Tony simply needed some time to change his mind.

He hadn't listened to Tony or looked him in the eyes when he was talking now, his passion for this new goal was more than evident.

Mr. Stark – because that was who he was at this moment – put on his sunglasses before stepping out of the car. The predicted flashes of camera blinded even her though she was still in the car.

Instead of walking on, Tony held the door open and held out a hand for her. She squared her shoulders as she stepped out, letting go of his hand once she was on safe ground. The clipboard was instantly pressed tightly against her chest with her left hand – it was a sort of safety mechanism, a defence as she always felt terribly vulnerable in front of these sharks. Usually they were not that keen on taking pictures of her, but standing next to the returning hero had its perks as well as its disadvantages. This was definitely one of the disadvantages.

They expertly ignored the questions the press threw at them as they walked into the great entrance of Stark Industries.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Press conference and more flirting next time. What do you think?


	5. The Press Conference

Chapter 5

Yay, next one. The Press Conference. Most of the text from the conference is taken directly from the movie with a couple of edits and additions.

I dedicate this chapter to my latest reviewers – thank you!

**Arihimew** Yay! Thank you. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter as well then. Please let me know. Cheers J

**Trinilynn: **Yay, thank you very much. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. It's got a bit more flirting and fluff in it. Please keep reviewing J

**NekaBS:** Yay! Thank you for your review. Ironically, less than an hour afterwards I upload the next chapter. Hope you enjoy this chapter, please keep letting me know what you think! J

**Belle97:** Thank you ver much! Hopefully you'll enjoy this new chapters as well :)

/****/***$%/*/*****/

They had barely managed one step in when Obadiah Stane caught up to them. His smile was wide as were his gestures. Publicity, Pepper noted quietly, as she caught Tony's eyes. He still had his arm in a sling but listened as Obadiah kept talking to him about hospitals and the company.

It was back to the way it used to be – Obadiah had Tony under his firm control, pushing him up in front of him and the press closed the way behind them. She kept standing at the back of the room and appreciated it when Rhodey joined her. It wasn't the lack of attention from the press that bothered her – for all she cared they wouldn't know of her existence at all. But what bothered her was the way that Obadiah was trying to manoeuvre his way back into the eye of the public. She sighed, she'd warned Tony and she knew him well enough to know that he could handle anything Obadiah would throw at him.

She was just about to turn and talk to Rhodey when a man came up to her side and distracted her. He was in a grey suit and seemed oddly focussed on her instead of the spectacle at the front.

"Miss Potts?"

"Yes?"

"May I speak to you for a moment?"

She was rather curious about how Tony would go about telling the public, so she only said a few words before turning back to the front.

"I am not part of the press conference but it's about to begin right now."

Despite the fact that she was still facing the front, he kept talking.

"I'm not a reporter. I am Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

Pepper blinked slightly and then accepted the card he kept holding out to her, grudgingly.

"That's quite a mouthful."

"I know; we're working on it."

With a sigh, Pepper decided to hopefully stop the agent from trying to talk to Tony, though she doubted she'd succeed.

"We've already been approached by the DOD, the FBI, CIA,..." Actually they had been approached by them but she hadn't taken the calls. She'd only noticed when she was in the car and decided she'd call them back later. It still bothered her that they'd found out so quickly.

Agent Phil Coulson interrupted her.

"I know. We're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."

She'd known he wouldn't be so easily deterred. "I'll put something in the book, shall I?"

"Thank you." Phil moved away from her to her relief but she found she now had no time to exchange any words with Rhodey anymore.

Pepper focussed on the front, as she always did, watching as Obadiah took over the press podium, leaning over which gave him a much more aggressive stance though he finally noticed that Tony wasn't next to him anymore. She was amused to watch Obadiah only say "Eeh..." to the microphone before noticing Tony sitting on the stage, looking relaxed with his back leaning against the podium. Then Tony took over and as always, the press was eating out of his hands.

She'd gotten on well enough, deflecting questions and answering to their challenges but Tony's way with the press still baffled her; he always somehow ended up with them on his side.

"Hey, would it be alright if everyone just sat down? Just sit down, that way you can see me and I can see."

That sight amused her to no end: female reporters in business skirts awkwardly sitting on the floor because – hey, it was Tony Stark asking.

"It's a little less formal that way."

Rhodey sidled up beside her and they both made themselves comfortable; or at least as comfortable as one can be sitting on the floor.

"Is he really going ahead with this?", Rhodey whispered to her.

She focussed back on him. She knew she should've tried to talk to him again before this, but it was too late now.

"Yes. You didn't see him, Rhodey. He's serious about this. Look at him – he's changed. This Tony won't back down, not on this."

Rhodey stared at her, mouth opening and then closing again as he decided to take her advise and look at his best friend as he delivered the news to the press.

Tony turned to Obadiah. "Good to see you."

Pepper smiled. She knew that subtly insulting tone, to her it was pointing out that Obadiah had never once said that or anything similar since Tony had set foot into Stark Industries today.

She watched as Obadiah, somewhat uncomfortable, leant forward and put a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Good to see you too."

Tony had obviously come to a decision, as he turned back.

"I never got to say goodbye to my father." For most it seemed a non-segue, but she knew him well enough to know that he'd planned this, but it was amusing to watch the journalists and reporters shift uncomfortably, unsure what to make of such an emotional topic.

"There's questions; questions that I would've asked him about what this company did" She watched as Tony made eye contact with individual members of the press, always amazed at the pull he seemed to have over these people. "if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels."

He made eye contact with her and Rhodey, and she watched Rhodey snort slightly at Tony's statement. Then he gave her a small nod to signal that he, too, had seen it. Tony had changed and this was not a phase or a mood swing. This was definite and permanent.

Tony's tone of voice was bleak and she could see the despair in his eyes, but also the determination as he continued.

"I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw ... that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." She knew he wasn't finished but the reporters piped up in a rush.

He picked out someone close to the front – surprisingly the voice turned out to be male, but at least he sounded somewhat compassionate.

"What happened over there?"

She saw Tony pause, before he stood up, deciding to share his passion and determination with everyone now, to convince them he was serious.

"I – I had my eyes opened. I came to realise" Pepper watched him walk to the podium. "that I have more to offer to this world than just making things to blow up" She smiled at his word choice "and that is why, effective immediately" Pepper noticed Obadiah's head snap up to stare at Tony, the only one standing whilst everyone remained seated and glued to his words. "I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries."

The reporters were now standing up and clamouring for his attention. What grabbed Pepper's attention most, however, was Obadiah standing up and putting his hands around Tony' shoulders and tried to force him away from the microphones.

Pepper's eyes narrowed and she stalked through the press up to the front, but she should have known Tony better. He easily pushed back against Obadiah and kept speaking.

"Until such a time that I can decide what the future of this company will be, what direction it should take one that I am comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."

She was now more amused than anything – despite being closer to the speakers anything Obadiah said was easily drowned out by Tony. And it was becoming rather obvious how Obadiah nearly shoved him from the stage.

Tony jumped down to join her as they made their way towards the back, towards Rhodey and the exit. The reporters were all once again clamouring for Tony's attention but Pepper made sure to be on the side of his injured arm so she could at least stop people from shoving against it. She did allow herself a small smirk though when she noticed that Obadiah was still talking, trying to influence the reporters but no one was listening to him.

"What we should take from this is that Tony's back!" A quick glance backward confirmed that his smile was entirely phony and that there was sweat on his forehead. After three months of what felt like stalemates it was incredibly satisfying to see him so decisively beat – not that she'd tell that to Tony. By the quick smile at her, she suspected she wouldn't have to.

Happy saw the hordes of piranhas – what was it with reporters and sea creatures? - behind them and simply left the back door open whilst he moved into the front seat.

As soon as Rhodey had stepped in, Happy drove off.

"Where to, Boss?"

Pepper mustered Rhodey and Tony carefully. Tony looked somewhat peaked and Rhodey still seemed to be thinking over the latest revelations so she answered Happy.

"Home, please."

The car drive was eerily quiet as she was studying the friends. The usual, easy camaraderie was absent and she noticed that both were kind of stiff.

She rolled her eyes but unfortunately Tony picked up on it too and he raised his eyebrows and focussed on her.

"What?"

Pepper shrugged, somewhat uncomfortable, before deciding to just say what was on her mind. He would never fire her for speaking her mind.

"You and Rhodey." She gestured between the two of them. "I mean you have to see it from his point of view, Mr. Stark. You just finished insulting his livelihood and his passions, everything he worked for. He disobeyed a superior officer to help you and to him that is a big deal. And now you tell everyone you won't be doing Weapons anymore. He'll come around but you can't expect him to be jumping for joy."

She turned to Rhodey now. "And as for you – Tony was just kidnapped, shot at with his own weapons. He's never seen a war, not to this level. Of course he'll back out of the field. And I've had discussions with you previously. You know what I think about weapons and war – it just so happens that your best friend has finally decided to come around to my opinion and realised a flaw in the system. He won't stop being who he is but you also have to accept that he's changed and that this is what he plans on doing now. Support him – you've defied everyone who told you to back down but now that he's back after three months you're ready to throw in the towel?" She shook her head at them.

Rhodey's and Tony's eyes were wide. Rhodey leaned over to Tony slightly, though she could still clearly make out their voices.

"She's scary."

Tony leant over to Rhodey now, eyes still fixed on her.

"Why do you think she's still my PA?"

Pepper found she couldn't quite suppress the amused smile at their antics but noticed that both Rhodey and Tony seemed a bit more relaxed around each other now, at least.

"Home sweet home" Happy announced from the front and he barely finished talking before Tony was out the door.

"Finally!"

He stretched his arms out, staring into the blinding California sun and breathing in the fresh air.

Pepper followed whilst Rhodey explained that he'd be off brownnosing his superior officer and staid in the car. She watched Happy drive off, before stepping up to her boss.

It took another few minutes before he dropped his arms and acknowledged her.

"Tony, I need to know about any injuries you have." The use of his given name was intentional and a gesture to him.

He sought out her eyes and seemed to find whatever he was looking for.

"Come in then, Ms. Potts, might as well tell the whole gang."

Frowning slightly, Pepper followed her boss as he walked up to his bedroom. She stopped at the entrance, unsure of his intentions.

This time it was him rolling his eyes at her.

"Hands above the belt, promise. Well, unless you want to put yours lower..."

She did smile at that and stepped in.

"Jarvis, pay attention and log this far away from the Stark main servers and under as much protection as possible." Tony was serious again as he addressed his virtual system.

"Of course, sir."

With a nod Tony slid off his jacket, but he started to have trouble with the buttons on his shirt.

Pepper stepped up and silently asked for permission. Tony nodded wordlessly and she wondered at what the blue glow coming from his chest was but found she couldn't think much more about it.

For the first time in three months she was close to Tony. She could smell the masculine smell that was purely Tony mixed with his favourite orange shampoo. The heat emanating from his body was intense and she could feel her own body responding. Her heart rate sped up and her breathing sped up, she vaguely wondered if Tony could see her pulse increase. She knew her cheeks were flushed just as she knew that Tony was studying her as she undid his top button.

When her fingers 'accidentally' brushed against his clavicle she was pleased to hear him inhale sharply though, surprised at the skin on skin contact she'd initiated. She didn't dare meet his eyes as she undid his second button, though she made sure his shirt remained closed and undid the third.

At least she was having an effect on him as well. It actually did help quite a bit to know that she had an effect on her womanising boss. Unfortunately her hands had now started to shake slightly in her anxiousness.

"Maybe you should take off my shirts more often, Miss Potts."

His tone of voice was casual, but she'd caught the slightest shaking in his voice.

"Until your arm is out of that sling I probably will be, Mr. Stark, unless you wish to hire a personal nurse?"

His response was quick. "If you are up for the position, then I would certainly not object to having a personal nurse."

Pepper grinned. "I believe, Mr. Stark, that we have already established that without me as your PA you would be well and truly lost."

She had just finished the last button though she made sure to lift his shirt up slightly so there were no brushes – accidental or otherwise – with his nether regions. But it meant she was completely unprepared for him closing the rest of the gap between them, her breasts touching his chest and her mouth nearly touching his. She could feel his warm breath mingle with hers when he spoke next.

"How about PA during the day and nurse at night?"

She could read the arousal and the sheer desire in his eyes and it took all her effort to step back.

"I believe I declined a similar offer on my first day of working for you, Mr. Stark."

Tony rubbed his chest and gave her a soft smile.

"So you did. Damn shame too, I had an outfit for you and everything."

Pepper laughed, thankful that Tony was so adept at turning the conversations onto lighter subjects.

"Now, Potts, I don't know how much you know about the raid."

Pepper stopped laughing, the heart stopping moments of the footage she'd watched over and over again despite Jarvis' protests were seared into her membranes. Clearing her throat, she replied, deciding that the fact that she had obtained and seen the video did not need to be broadcast.

"You were caught in a bomb blast. Nobody knows anything after that."

Tony nodded and she noticed he was rubbing his chest again through his shirt.

"Yes. I managed to catch a lot of splinters from the bomb. Yinsen – he managed to remove the outer splinters but others were too close to my heart. He had to put a magnet hooked up to a car battery inside me to stop them from advancing to my heart."

Pepper couldn't quite suppress the gasp of horror that escaped her, eyes wide and filled with fresh tears. A car battery? Stuck into his chest?

Against her will she found herself advancing again and opening his shirt.

To her great relief it wasn't as scary as she had thought. It was a metal ring and the middle emitted a blue glow. He had scratches on him but nothing major that she could see otherwise. Still somewhat in shock she found herself touching his chest and her fingers softly touching the area around his metal ring.

It was only when Tony cleared his throat that she noticed his increased breathing and frowned slightly.

"Pepper, I would stop doing that unless you mean to finish it. It's.. a rather sensitive area."

Concerned she quickly jerked her hand back.

"Oh god, Tony. I didn't mean to cause you pain."

At her words he looked at her and she noticed the heat in his eyes and the arousal and felt herself blushing in response to it before he ever replied.

"I wouldn't exactly say that it was pain you were causing me, but it was definitely... very... sensitive."

Her eyes widened and her hands twitched with the desire to keep touching his bare chest in front of her. It had been a long time since she had the time to admire her boss' physique. She restrained herself, but for a long moment they simply stood there, staring at each other, unsure what their next steps should or would be.

Suddenly a voice cut through the tense air between them.

"Sir, if I may interrupt. I presume that is an arc reactor and your upgrade from the car battery."

"Yes Jarvis, it is actually though it still needs quite a bit of refinement. It's only a prototype; I mean, I had to build the goddamned thing in a cave."

"Very well sir. I will come up with alternate components. Estimated completion by 2.36 a.m."

Tony nodded and turned back to her. He had originally intended to take his arm sling off right about now but figured having Pepper help him take off and put on shirts would be well worth keeping that sling on for a few more days.

"Pep, would you mind bringing me some food – I think I am going to have a lie down. I haven't been able to sleep for a couple days whilst we were working on our escape plan."

Pepper nodded. "Anything specific you would like?"

"Pizza." Pepper laughed and left to order the requested pizza, relieved that they were back to normal.

He wasn't very sentimentalist but for hard days such as this one he kept a picture of his parents and him when he was younger as well as one of Rhodey, Pepper and him. Tony relaxed in his bed before leaning over slightly to one of the side drawers and fishing around blindly. When he still couldn't find what he was looking for he frowned and sat up slightly to be able to actually look into the drawers.

What he found was not, however, the expected photographs but instead there was paperwork; paperwork from a meeting that he had definitely not attended because he had been in Afghanistan.

He frowned, how had that gotten in there? Beneath it were still the photographs he'd been looking for. Utterly confused he scanned through the paperwork before deeming it simply another one of the minutes that Pepper would read on his behalf but that he didn't need to- hold that thought, that Pepper would read but he wouldn't? Had she been in his bedroom whilst he was away? If so why? And why had she read this on his bed or at least put it in his drawer?

"Jarvis?"

"Mister Stark?" Was it just him or did his AI sound nervous? He didn't know he could sound nervous.

"Was Miss Potts in my room whilst I was kidnapped?"

The artificial intelligence sounded relieved. "Of course, Mr. Stark. She was last in here without you this morning with your cleaning personnel."

Tony's eyes narrowed further. His AI was definitely trying to be obtuse about this and it only encouraged him to dig further for there must be something he was so intent on hiding, ergo it must be worth hiding.

"Let me ask again, was she here without me or anyone else in the room for a purpose other than cleaning in the last three months?"

"I would really prefer if you asked her directly, Mr. Stark. She has threatened me with a most vile torture device if I divulge information."

Tony laughed at that. Trust his PA to find a way to threaten an artificial intelligence that had no physical body.

"Now, Jarvis."

With another sigh the machine obeyed. Subterfuge had not been part of his programming.

"Miss Potts found a sanctuary in your bedroom, I believe, after long days of being hassled by Mr. Stane. I believe on occasions she has slept in this room, though she mainly used it for emotional and stress relief in the beginning."

Tony leaned against his bed's headboard, thoroughly stunned. His Pepper had slept in his bed, unwittingly he found his hands reaching out to his pillows, imagining red hair spilt across them and a freckled face staring at him sleepily. He found himself jerked out of his daydreams by Jarvis very dry voice.

"I think the sheets have been changed since then, sir."

If he had been someone to blush easily, he would have. Being caught by an artificial intelligence in these kind of emotional daydreams was not the most pleasant of experiences.

But Pep had slept in his bed; and god knows there were enough guest rooms in this place. Was he- Could he interpret from that or did it not mean anything?

Then he caught onto the second part of what Jarvis had said.

"Hold on Jarvis – what do you mean by emotional and stress relief?"

"Mr Stark, Miss Potts was frequently crying in this room, I believe. I was asked to disable video and audio feed in the room but the sound could still be picked up from outside the room on occasions. And she didn't think of it the first time."

"Damn." Though he hadn't paid her much attention on a daily basis, he probably knew more about Virgina Potts than his own mother. And she was not one to break into tears easily or at all really in the time that he'd worked with her. For her to cry frequently something beyond his kidnapping must have taken place.

"Damn it. Jarvis, what happened?"

But at that moment Pepper entered, steaming Pizza in her hands.

"Just so you know, you won't always get to eat in bed. It's an exception because you are injured and no, that's not a good enough reason to make it a habit."

Tony involuntarily smiled at his PA's words, though his mind was still racing. Pepper Potts had been with him for years; people had insulted her and he'd even heard of someone slapping her (for the record that guy had been cut out off the business world entirely after only a few phone calls from Tony no one wanted to touch that guy with a pole). She took care of his one night stands, dealt with annoyed business partners and anti-war campaigners. All of that she took in her stride, not even showing that she had any other emotions beyond professional and annoyed and yet something or someone in the last three months had caused her to break down in his bedroom of all places frequently enough for Jarvis to pick up on it. Fuck.

"Join me?"

As he'd expected she rolled her eyes at him and ignored his words entirely.

"Now, Pep, I found some paperwork in my bedside drawer. Did you forget it there this morning?"

She paused, first paling then surprised at the easy out he was offering her. Her eyes only focussed on him for a moment before she caught on. He knew something already.

"I believe, Mr. Stark, that I left that paperwork there about two months ago. I had to reprint it at work." She allowed herself to relax her face momentarily, eyes meeting Tony's to allow her feelings to shine through momentarily.

"Believe it or not, you are a dear friend of mine, Tony. And I missed you. I am over the moon now that you're back." A soft smile was on her lips as she allowed her hand to trace over his cheek slightly, tears of mixed happiness and upset crawling up her throat, desperate to reassure herself that he was really here, was really back. With her. In his bed.

She blinked herself back to reality and let her hand drop as though she held hot coals, standing up from her seat on the bed.

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

The man looked at her confused but then grinned slightly.

"You missed me, hmm? I can work with that." Her eyes widened in panic, but his smile became less mischievous and more honest the next moment. "And just for the record, I missed you too, Pep. And yes, that will be all, Ms. Potts."

Her answering smile was wide and she nodded at him before leaving him alone in his room with the Pizza, contemplating.

"Jarvis, who upset Miss Potts most of the time?"

The AI seemed annoyed at being questioned, not understanding enough of human intricacies to know why his creator couldn't simply ask the very person he'd just talked to moments ago.

"Mr. Stane seemed to be rather successful at upsetting her but most of the employees and the reporters would have to be included as well as some of the business partners."

"Why? What'd they do? Miss Potts isn't usually so easily shaken."

"Sir – I don't believe you want to hear this. I really think it would be best to abandon this line of questioning entirely."

"Yeah, yeah. Now let's hear it, Jarvis. What. Did. They. Do?"

"With the exception of a notable few most people kept asking Miss Potts when she would be giving up on you, when she would stop searching and appoint someone as permanent CEO. I believe people also kept questioning your judgement to appoint her as CEO and kept trying to intimidate or compare themselves. I would like to point out that she managed to increase stocks by 10.3 percent within a month's time but unfortunately that did not stop people from harassing her."

Tony paused. He'd thought about what legacy he'd be leaving behind, he'd thought about his faithful PA, but it hadn't really occurred to him how quickly people were willing to abandon the search for him.

"Jarvis, what- what did she say about stopping the search for me?" For a moment, Tony felt oddly vulnerable and not sure if he wanted to hear what his artificial intelligence would say.

"Whilst her words to the press were somewhat more diplomatic, internally I believe her exact words were: 'When hell freezes over. We will keep searching and turning over every stone for the next 90 years if that's what it takes. We will NEVER give up. I will never give up. And if you are so keen to give up on your CEO you can fuck off and look for a new job where they accept spineless people with no sense of loyalty.'"

Tony burst into laughter. His PA didn't swear. It was like a rule of hers or something, but she simply didn't swear. She'd give you that saccharine smile that would set your teeth on edge and make you do exactly as she wished but she didn't need to swear to do that.

"I do believe the rest of the General Meeting was rather quiet after that."

Tony grinned. "I can well believe it. See? You don't mess with my PA."

"People were starting to appreciate that, I think, sir."

Still grinning and in a much better mood, Tony was trying to think about what to do with Obadiah Stane. He had apparently caused Pepper a lot of hassle and trouble and that was unforgivable, but he'd been a friend of the family for years, had been his friend for years. He still wasn't sure what to make of it and how to deal with him.

Finishing his pizza, Tony decided he'd sleep on it. Maybe he'd dream of a new way to improve the suit, though he supposed even just having the right material should be plenty.

Exhaustion took its toll and Anthony Stark was asleep in his bed, dreaming of redheaded Personal Assistants simultaneously admonishing him and kissing him. Hmm, maybe dreams weren't all bad.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Well, hope you like it. There are a lot more secrets and Tony hasn't even gotten around to starting on building the Ironman. But hey, at least there's a bit more chemistry between the two.


	6. Showers, Nakedness and Tony's clothes

Hello... I decided to update early. Couldn't resist. This chapter is a lot of flirting, a lot more risqué situations... Anyway, I'll let you read it. But note that this chapter contains a bit of switching between Peppers' and Tony's POV.

**Dedicated to my faithful and my new reviewers:**

**Belle97:** Yay, I'm glad you found it funny. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one too :)

**NekaBS:** Wow, thank you. I am glad you thought I captured them well. Hopefully this new chapter will meet your expectations as well.

**MJClaire:** Thank yo u:) You'll be glad to know there is a lot of flirting in this chapter.  
**Dingaling11:** Thank you. Please let me know what you think of this chapter.  
**Trinilynn**: Thank you, thank you and thank you! I hope that the reviews are simply a mix of it only having been online since the first January and not a high enough word count yet. So far 1,123 people have read it? Is that good? Hm... Anyway, I do hope you will really enjoy this chapter. It's got lots of fluff and naughtiness :)

And thank you to my **two guests**. I translated the Spanish review – so thank you, hope you enjoy the flirting in this chapter and it was a relatively quick update J To the other reviewer – Thank you! It will follow canon somewhat but it will also start to divert more with the obviously more intense relationship between Pepper and Tony.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Pepper stepped into the workshop in the safe knowledge that Tony was asleep upstairs.

"Jarvis, please let me know if Tony wakes up or makes any move to get up."

"Certainly, Miss Potts. May I ask what we will be working on tonight?"

Pepper felt exhausted but instead of sleeping like she desperately wanted to she found herself sitting in front of the artificial intelligence instead, too worried and unnerved to even think of going to bed.

"What is that in his chest, Jarvis? What does it do, how does it work? What are the dangers?"

She didn't want to lose him again. What if being near a metal detector or having an MRI would kill him? God, panicking again already.

"Mr. Stark has an arc reactor and an electro magnet in his chest. It was his father who first came up with the arc reactor. Basically..."

For the next two hours Jarvis patiently explained the maths and physics behind everything whilst Pepper tried to absorb it all, knowing there couldn't be any paper trail about how the instrument that kept him alive worked.

By the end of it her head was whirring but her questions were at least answered. He was safe. Actually safe. She momentarily interacted with the three robots before lying on the backseat of his hot rod, staring at the roof of the car. Deciding that she'd simply get 10 minutes here before moving to one of the guest rooms she nodded off, whilst Butterfingers kept touching her hair.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Tony yawned and stretched as he woke up, pleasant dreams of sharing a bed with his assistant chased away by the empty, dark room.

"Good evening sir. It is now 4.22 a.m. The calculations for an improved prototype are complete."

Tony rubbed his eyes and nodded. "Thanks Jarvis. Prepare the workshop."

"... The workshop, sir? I could show you everything on the monitors here?"

Sighing, he sat up. "Okay, what's wrong now? Did Dummy break something again?"

Unfortunately for Jarvis, Pepper was sleeping very comfortably on the leather seats of the car and had no intention of waking up.

"Mr. Stark, Miss Potts appears to have fallen asleep and I find myself unable to wake her."

Tony frowned. His AI was being extraordinarily awkward today. Deciding to leave his chest bare, he walked towards the workshop.

"So? Why would you need to wake her?"

"Mr. Stark, Miss Potts is currently stretched across the backseat of your hot rod and refuses to wake up. I don't think she'd appreciate you waking her up, sir."

Tony's mouth went dry at that imagery. Pepper Potts in her business skirt and suit stretched across the backseat of his favourite car. Damn, that was hot. He subconsciously found himself speeding up in an effort to get to his car sooner and see her in a hopefully compromising position.

When he snuck into the lab he immediately saw Butterfingers holding red hair and gestured for his robots to be quiet as he came closer.

Then he saw her, Pepper Potts, knees angled towards her chest as she lay half on her side, upper body twisted and red hair spilling across the white leather. Her skirt was further up her thigh then she would have normally allowed and there was a bare strip of flesh visible on her hip. The urge to touch her was almost irresistible but a sad whirr from Dummy called him back to reality.

Instead he found himself leaning slightly and after taking off the sling across his shoulders, he put her legs across his injured arm whilst he put his other arm across her back. Standing up after ensuring that he had a firm grip on her, he softly, carefully pulled her out of the car.

He held his breath for a moment but Peppers only reaction was to snuggle into his bare chest with her nose, one hand across his chest, muttering slightly. It took him a moment to realise she'd said his name and he nearly dropped her then and there.

Instead Jarvis opened the doors for him and he walked her over to the guest room. The temptation to put her in his bed was great but he resisted knowing he needed to prove to her first that his intentions were honourable. Well, sort of honourable but he really needed to show her that she would be more than a one night stand.

Putting her gently on the covers he frowned as she shivered slightly at the cold duvet. Almost instinctively her hand grabbed his arm and tried to pull him into the bed as well. Eyes wide at the strong grip she had he slowly disentangled himself from her. After stepping back he pulled off her shoes before covering her with another duvet he pulled from the cupboard. To resist further temptation he left the room after that to go back to his workshop and tinker with the miniature arc reactor in his chest and future prototypes.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Pepper yawned and stretched slightly as she woke up. That was the best sleep she'd had in what felt like months. For once she actually felt refreshed and energised.

Opening her eyes, she tried to recollect what had happened. She'd been with Jarvis in the workshop and oh god! Tony was back. She sat up straight upon that memory before realising that this was not the car she'd fallen asleep in – nor was this the workshop. This was the guest room. She'd been here often enough to recognise it.

Confused and somewhat dazed she stood up and found her shoes lined up neatly beside the bed. Oookay. Had she been sleepwalking?

"Jarvis?"

"Good Morning Miss Potts. It's 9.32 a.m., the weather is sunny and we are expecting about 37°C outside today."

Blinking slightly she took a glance at the windows –sure enough, the sun was up and illuminating the sky. For a moment she felt adrenaline rush into her system, thinking she'd overslept and there would be so much to do before she remember cancelling all of Mr. Stark's appointments for a week.

Calming down again slightly she addressed the artificial intelligence again.

"Jarvis, where is Mr. Stark?"

"He is in the workshop, Miss Potts. Would you like me to let him know that you are awake?"

"I- Not just now. What happened, Jarvis? I definitely remember falling asleep in the car."

"Mr. Stark carried you up to the guest bedroom, Miss Potts. I was unable to wake you prior to his arrival."

Oh God. She could feel the blush spreading across her cheeks. Not really what she'd been wanting to hear. Anthony Stark, her boss, had seen her asleep in his car, in his workshop. Oh, she'd never live this one down.

God, this was embarrassing. The man had just returned from being missing and the first thing his PA does is lie across the backseat of his favourite car and sleep. Oh dear lord. She hoped she hadn't snored. Or talked in her sleep. Or drooled! Pepper had always ensured that Tony never saw her in anything less than a perfectly composed state. Even when they spent the occasional evening as friends watching movies, she didn't drink and always left before she could fall asleep on him.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Pepper realised there was nothing for it now. It had happened – whatever had happened. She needed to face him. But at least she could stall momentarily.

With that thought she quickly sought out the bathroom to have a hot shower and hopefully clear her head somewhat before she was face to face with the billionaire again.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

"Mr. Stark? Miss Potts is now awake."

Tony stopped fiddling with the latest 3D model, pausing as he wondered what his PA would be doing just now.

"Jarvis- save this under Mach1. It needs some more refinement. Oh, and make sure it's not accessible on the Stark servers."

"Of course sir."

Tony stood up and with a pat on Dummy's head he left the workshop towards his private bathroom. He wanted to be at least somewhat clean before he met up with Pepper.

The one thing he hadn't expected as he walked through the empty hallways up to his bedroom was for a wet Pepper with only a towel wrapped around herself to crash into him halfway there.

Eyes wide they went flying to the ground, Tony instinctively wrapping his arms around the redhead's body to ensure that he took the brunt of the fall below her.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Pepper stepped out of the shower, finally feeling a bit more like herself, more in control. It was only when she finished towel drying her hair that she realised she had no change of clothes with her. Not only that, but in her panic yesterday she had made sure to clear the entire manor of any of her clothes; they were all in the boot of Happy's – well Tony's – car.

Rolling her eyes at her own obliviousness she decided she'd simply have to wear yesterday's clothes and phone Happy to drop by. Now she just needed to cross the hallway to the guest room unseen, but that wouldn't be such a problem. This was Tony's private wing; he only had two guest rooms down here – for her and Rhodey – and his own bedroom. And since Tony was down in the workshop he was far enough from her that it would be extremely unlikely for them to stumble upon each other. He never used to leave the workshop unless he was dragged out, so the one thing she did not anticipate happening, obviously did.

She'd barely stepped foot outside the bathroom, intent on just rushing across the hallway whilst holding on tightly to her towel, when she ran into a hard body.

Her eyes widened as she felt herself propelled forwards and arms closing in around her in a protective embrace. She closed her eyes at the expected impact but opened them again when she still hadn't felt the pain she'd been half-expecting.

"Pepper, are you okay?" Brown eyes looked at her in concern from beneath her, trying to scan her face for any expression of pain or discomfort.

"I- Tony?" Pepper, inexplicably, found herself puzzled. She didn't know whom else she had been expecting. Everyone else – even the cleaning staff – had been given a week off to allow Tony time to himself without any added outside pressure. Logically speaking, there couldn't have been anyone else here.

"Pepper – are you okay?"

He seemed even more worried now, his hand on her back had tightened momentarily before relaxing again, his other arm still in the protective sling against her side. She noticed that he was only moments away from checking her physically so she decided to respond before he thought she must have sustained some further damage.

"Tony, I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about. I am so sorry for running into you like that."

The man beneath her relaxed at her words, eyes closing momentarily in relief, before focussing back on her, mischief in his entire expression and it immediately set her on edge.

"I always knew you were one who wanted to be on top, Potts."

Thoroughly distracted, she frowned at him, sitting up slightly.

"I- what?"

She usually was more eloquent than this – even when taken by surprise. She blamed it all on Tony's return. The man had a way with women that sent their heads spinning.

"Well, Miss Potts, from the casual attire I can only presume that you were interested in some other kind of physical activity with me" He waggled his eyebrows at her, self-confident smirk on his lips. "but I hate to tell you that I am not a one night stand kinda guy anymore." He gave her a faux-upset look and Pepper found her lips quirking against her will as she replied.

"Since when?"

Tony gasped, hand on his chest.

"That hurt, right here it did. Kiss it better, Pep?"

Pepper snorted and sat fully upright. It was only when she felt cloth sliding down her body that she grabbed instinctively onto the towel that covered her.

Eyes widening, she realised that whilst she hadn't exactly flashed her boss, she was still wet, clad in only a towel sitting astride him. All his comments suddenly made sense. Oh blast it all to hell!

The blush this time went right up to her ears – she'd seen Tony's eyes trail one of the drops of water as it disappeared beneath her towel and the expression on his face caused a very pleasant tingle in her lower body. It had been such a long time since a man had looked at her with such desire, such longing. And for a tiny moment she could see herself taken Tony up on his offer – she knew that despite being drunk out of his mind his previous bed companions had been more than satisfied. And he was sober now, she could imagine the heights he'd take her to.

But then the cold reality settled in her stomach and caused all the heat to dissipate. She'd be another of his one night stands. Pepper had worked long and hard for Tony, she valued him as a friend and as a boss – she stood to lose everything; her job, her career and her friend if she took him up on it. She knew, better than anyone, that he rarely remembered any of the girls he took to bed with him and that he certainly had no lingering interest or respect for them. That was not something she could see for herself.

And that was what finally gave her the strength to tighten her hold on her towel and stand up from their rather precarious position.

"I don't think so, Mister Stark. Now, if you are certain you are no less injured than before I will go to the guest bedroom."

She waited momentarily, watching as the fog cleared slowly from his eyes as he watched her. He seemed to read her expression and body language, before standing up in front of her. She could feel his breath ghosting over her cheek as he replied, his body dangerously close to hers.

"I am fine, Miss Potts. Would you order some breakfast in?"

She blinked, grateful he'd reverted back to the more professional title. Nodding at him she went to the guest bedroom and closed the door behind her.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Tony waited until she had left before allowing the pain to show on his face. His arm hurt like hell. When he'd carried Pepper up the steps earlier, he'd thought he would be fine but his arm had caused him enough pain to swallow some painkillers. During his fall he'd jarred it – which had been okay at first, but once he'd stood up it nearly brought him back down to his knees. The only mercy was that Pepper was too embarrassed to make eye contact – otherwise she would have noticed it right away.

Grinding his teeth he walked towards his bedroom, closing the door behind him before allowing himself to sink to the floor.

"Jarvis?"

"Mr. Stark? Your heart rate is elevated and you pupils are dilated. Do you need me to call Miss Potts?"

Tony groaned in pain, knowing it would release at least some of the pain.

"No, Jarvis. Scan my arm, check for broken bones."

"If you're certain, sir."

Only moments later a model of the inside of his arm was shown on the screen. No break, still only the same tiny crack in his bone. At least it hadn't gotten worse, he only had pain to show for his stupidity. Breathing through the pain he stayed seated on the floor for a few more moments before deciding he needed a shower to get rid of the sweat.

And god if the image of Pepper, flushed from the shower, wet curly hair with only a bright white towel that stood out starkly against her skin, pressed against his body didn't make it into one of his fantasies. He hadn't been able to stop himself when she'd sat up on top of him and he had felt the heat from her so intensely against himself, blue eyes sparkling with laughter and an easy smile on her lips – he'd watched the drop of water slowly roll from her shoulder down her body until it had disappeared underneath her towel just by the swell of her breasts.

Never before had he seen so much of her naked skin and her entire body had been pressed against his, naked thighs on either side of his hip and if he wasn't in so much pain right now he would have a problem, but seriously the soft, velvety skin had nearly made him forget anything and everything else. And he'd finally been able to ascertain that she really did have freckles all over her body. He wondered if Pepper would object to him kissing each one and every one of them individually?

With that thought Tony went into the hot shower, pain all but forgotten under the onslaught of images Pepper had unwillingly supplied him with.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Pepper rubbed her eyes tiredly. Well, that certainly could've gone better. Only a day in and everything was already crashing down on her. She had originally intended to change in the guest room but had noticed the huge crowd of press cameras and photographers on the edges of Mr. Stark's surroundings almost immediately upon opening her eyes. Luckily they hadn't seen her yet. She wasn't sure how the press would spin her half-naked in Tony's house; probably not in a way that would put her in a positive light.

Quickly crouching down she gathered her clothes. Mr. Stark's bed room always faced the ocean and at least no one would be photographing him there. She had, early on in her career, told the press that anyone sending a helicopter to his house would be banned from any future press conferences of Stark Industries. With the amount of times that Tony dominated the news no one dared cross that line as it would most certainly cost the newspaper or TV broadcasters their livelihood.

God, she hated wearing the same clothes twice in a row. She'd been so rushed and stressed yesterday she was half-certain the clothing would be sweated through – and she'd worn it all through the night as well.

Coming to the decision that there was no way in hell that she was putting the clothing back on she snuck back out of the guest room and back into the bathroom.

"Jarvis?"

"Miss Potts – the food delivery you requested should be here within the next 15 minutes."

"Thank you. Jarvis, did the cleaners leave any of my clothes here or are they all in the back of Happy's car."

Jarvis paused momentarily before replying.

"All your clothes have been taken back to your apartment, Miss Potts."

She swore slightly, casting another disgusted look at her old clothes before reluctantly moving towards them. They couldn't be that bad, right?

/****/***$%/*/*****/

"Mister Stark? During the cleaning prior to your arrival all of Miss Potts clothing were taken back to her apartment."

Tony, having taken some more painkillers, stopped the hot water from the shower. Had he heard right? A grin on his lips he stepped out of the shower. Now this was far too good to pass up on.

"Did she ask you to contact me for clothes, Jarvis?"

"No sir. Miss Potts is unaware that I have taken the liberty of contacting you."

Grin widening he moved to his wardrobe to grab one of his favourite AC/DC shirts along with some boxers and track bottoms.

With some effort as he avoided moving his right arm too much he pulled on some boxers before moving towards the bathroom Jarvis informed him Pepper was hiding in.

He knocked on the door.

"Pepper?"

The redhead stood up immediately, flushing. How long had she been in here?

"Yes Mr. Stark?"

"Jarvis informed me that all your clothes have been sent away. I'll leave some of mine outside for you."

Jarvis was so going to hear that youtube video. She'd accidentally opened an email with that attachment but the screeching seemed at just the right frequency to really annoy Jarvis – as much as a virtual entity can be annoyed. Traitor!

She felt herself flushing at the thought of wearing her boss clothes. That couldn't be further from proper if she tried.

"I- no I can't- Tony! I can't wear your clothes! I am your PA – how would that look?"

"Don't worry Pep, no one will see you."

He sounded so calm and before she knew it she found herself opening the door, intent on telling Tony that this was in no way happening. Instead she found herself face to face with the arc reactor in his very naked chest. A quick glance told her that he was wearing boxers but nothing else.

She found herself swallowing, eyes quickly snapping back to his face, hoping against hope he hadn't noticed her small indiscretion. By the languid smirk on his face he had. Smug bastard.

Momentarily stunned and speechless she didn't quite realise what had happened until Tony had closed the door in her face. He actually had the guts to step up close to her – confusing her even further – before taking the clothes she had piled on the floor out of the room and pressing his in her hand. Then he'd closed the door and she vaguely heard his voice through the door.

"Jarvis, lock the bathroom door until Miss Potts is fully dressed."

"Understood, sir." Her hands had closed automatically around the handle but she'd been too late. The door wouldn't open.

"TONY!"

"Later, Potts."

"Oh no you don't. COME BACK HERE AT ONCE! TONY!"

"Mr. Stark has asked me to inform you that he is in his bedroom with music on. He will be unable to hear you and I will now close of communication to me as well."

God, she couldn't believe it. She'd been tricked. Swallowing nervously she looked at the clothes he'd left her with.

At least it wasn't anything bad and it would cover her up. At least he had actually given her trousers instead of leaving her with only his boxers. That would've been humiliating. This should at least cover her form enough that he wouldn't be that forward with her anymore – him seeing her asleep and then in only a towel was enough sexual tension for 24 hours, thank you very much.

She quickly slipped on the clothes, pausing awkwardly before pulling on the boxers. She knew they had all been freshly laundered but there was still something incredibly intimate about it that had her pausing before proceeding. She quickly brushed her hair with one of the spare brushes which whilst nowhere as good as her own at detangling the mess her hair always became over night was sufficient for the moment, allowing her to organise her hair into a ponytail. She heard the click of the lock disengaging and quickly left the bathroom.

"I have allowed the food delivery to be placed inside, Miss Potts, on Mr. Stark's instructions as he was of the opinion you didn't wish to step outside in your current attire."

"He'd be right, Jarvis. Where is he now?"

She wondered how much time she'd have to cook them a healthy breakfast, but Jarvis reply caused her to laugh slightly. Apparently Tony was struggling to put his shirt on with one arm immobilised.

Knocking on his door, she relaxed slightly. She was really just far too uptight about these things. Tony and her had been friends for over eight years. They had been flirting back and forth for most of that time with her putting him down if it became too much and him making jokes to relieve tension. It had worked very well for them and they had never crossed the line and become lovers. She didn't know why she kept thinking that things between them had changed now. Maybe it was simply the three months apart but she really needed to relax.

It was okay to borrow friends' clothes after a night over; especially if you'd known each other for 8 years. This wasn't a problem. She wouldn't allow it to become one; really it was only her that was so confused. This was the same Tony who'd left her before Afghanistan – he'd changed his opinion about the war but that didn't mean he had changed who he was around women. She was sure she was the only one feeling awkward over this.

So after knocking she entered the room, intending to help Tony with the shirt.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

"Hey Potts, thanks for-"

Tony whirled around as his PA came in, shirt in hand. He had always known being injured was an easy way to receive attention from women – especially with his PA who was always concerned about his antics. The only downside was that he was actually injured this time and in acute pain if he moved his arm despite the tablets.

What he hadn't expected, however, was how good it was to see Pepper in his clothes. Maybe it was just male ego talking but seeing Pepper in his clothes was sending all his synapses firing pleasure signals at once; it was almost as though she was his girlfriend. It was as though she was his.

She stood there, looking at him with an amused smile, leaning against the door slightly as she watched him – her red hair was still slightly dark from the shower and the shorter strands in her ponytail seemed to curl slightly. Her cornflower blue eyes were fixed on him, sparkling slightly, her lips curling under her petite nose and the freckles sprinkled across her cheeks gave her a more mischievous air than he had seen her with before.

Her shoulders were relaxed he noticed, arms crossed underneath her bosom, drawing his shirt in tight around her. Otherwise the shirt was big on her, going below her bottom and nearly up to her elbows on her arms, completely obscuring her figure – the trousers were the same, only held up by a drawstring. And yet he had never seen her more attractive to him, more sexy, more desirable than right now at this moment.

"Hot damn."

He knew his eyes were still wide as he stared at her but he couldn't help it, couldn't help that the way her cheeks went slightly pink only fascinated him more. In that moment he couldn't help wondering why he'd ever spent any time with any of the girls when he'd had her in front of him this whole time, couldn't help but wonder what she would look like moaning his name, coming undone beneath him, couldn't help wondering what she would say to taking the name Stark, to announcing to the world that she was his and his alone.

Then she stepped closer, clearing her throat slightly.

"I thought you may need some help putting a shirt on."

"I think I'll make it a rule that you have to wear my clothes whenever you're here with me." He was still wide eyed. "I mean you're usually incredibly attractive and sexy but hot damn, I don't think I've ever seen you look any better than in my clothes."

Pepper flushed and he half expected to be slapped with a sexual harassment suit but she never did what he expected anyway. That was the beauty of their relationship; he would never get bored of her, she always surprised him.

"I will ask Happy to drop by my apartment to bring me some clothes after this, Mr. Stark."

Reacting quickly he responded. "You can't. I gave Happy the week off and sent him away."

He had done no such thing. He only hoped he could call Happy before she could.

Pepper frowned slightly, raising her eyebrows. Then she shrugged.

"Then I will simply have my clothes laundered and order new clothes to be delivered here, Mr. Stark."

"But what would the press think if you had clothes for yourself delivered here? What if they saw your clothes being taken away or brought back – we'd be in the headlines which is something the company really doesn't need just now. I'm sure stocks have dropped drastically enough as it is."

That had been very quick thinking and even his PA looked momentarily stumped – but unfortunately only momentarily.

"Mr. Stark, your personal tailor has always been very discrete. I'll contact him and ask him to deliver some clothes for me."

"Do I pay you enough for that?" God, he hoped not. Her in his clothes for however long it took to heal his arm – and he'd make sure it took a long time to heal. The thought was enough to send his brain scrambling for more reasons.

"Yes, Mr. Stark, I get paid sufficient amounts of money. Why, are you offering a raise?"

"No, Miss Potts. But since these clothes are due to a predicament I have caused you, I will pay for these. Just let me contact the tailor with your measurements."

"Tony, the only way I will give you my measurements is if pigs start flying. No way. I'll contact the tailor myself."

Tony grinned, casually addressing Jarvis.

"Jarvis – can we make pigs fly?"

"Sir, with your most recent inventions I don't think it would be difficult at all."

"See, Pep, now tell me your measurements."

His PA gave him a glare. "Did you really think these childish reasons would convince me? You'll order me leather bras and garter belts or something equally ridiculous, I know you."

Tony's eyes glazed over as he imagined that but was quickly jolted back to reality when Pepper gave him her 'if you don't do as I say right now I will make your life hell' look and slapped his uninjured arm.

He couldn't suppress one last comment, though.

"Ooh, kinky Potts. I like it."

The use of her last name reverted them back to their usual flirting and safer territory, causing her shoulders to relax as she rolled her eyes at him. Tony made a note to call the tailor anyway after she'd given her orders.

"Okay, okay. Now will you help me put on a shirt or do I have to parade around naked all day?"

"God help us all, if you start doing that I may not be able to resist you anymore, Mr. Stark."

She'd pitched her voice into a high cheerleader type pitch and exaggeratedly fluttered her eyelids at him. Tony laughed. Pepper had always hated the cheerleader type, most especially the type that he took home with him. On more than one occasion in private she'd mocked them and she usually only did these impersonations if she was in a good mood – which after this morning was definitely a good sign.

"God, Pep, never change!"

Still grinning he reached over with his left arm and pulled slightly on her red hair, which curled nicely around his fingers. As usual she pulled her hair out of his reach and flicked his shoulder before pulling the shirt over it.

"You know, Mr. Stark, boys are meant to stop pulling girls hair after primary once they've grasped that's not the best way to get attention from the girl they like. And I'm sure I read somewhere that you're meant to be a genius."

Oh, that was an opening and a half. He watched as she meticulously buttoned his shirt, only absently commenting back to him.

"Well then, Miss Potts, how would you recommend boys go about getting a girls attention?"

"After eight years of working for you I can say with certainty that you don't need help getting women into your bed."

Tony noticed that she was pulling his shirt tighter than necessary at her words, obviously annoyed. This was definitely working out well.

"Ah, but there's the flaw: I never wanted those girls to stay for longer than a few hours. What I need your advice on, my dear Miss Potts, is how to make a women fall in love with me."

Her hands paused, hovering in mid-air above his buttons as she searched out his eyes, feeling hurt. She wasn't even sure why. If Tony wanted to finally settle down and find someone to love, then wasn't that good? Wouldn't that make her job so much easier? She wasn't oblivious – she knew she had a tiny crush on the man but he usually never looked at her as anything else than another conquest, another challenge. Now he wanted to move on, find someone permanent in his life. She wouldn't be able to interact with him as before, no more flirting, no more pauses that were too long between them, no soft touches. Their relationship would be strictly business and to her surprise she found she didn't want that.

As much as it had been about doing what was needed at first she'd grown incredibly fond of him and she really didn't want to see him with another woman. Especially if it was for a more permanent arrangement.

She couldn't interpret the look in his eyes – it had happened a few times since his return now and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She'd have to learn to get to know the new Tony.

Tearing her eyes from his, she continued fastening his buttons, hands only hesitating slightly before she cleared her throat. This so had not been in the job description.

"Well what is this women like? What are her hobbies, what does she enjoy? In general flowers and chocolate are easy first date things and obviously inviting her for a date."

Tony hummed slightly in thought. This was good. Either Potts remained completely oblivious to the fact that he was talking about her or she'd catch on and would – hopefully – be flattered and start considering him more seriously. Or Not.

"But what if I already had a business relationship with the person and they had seen me with my previous lifestyle and the reason they would probably be most adamant against starting anything with me would be because they're expecting to be another notch in the bedpost. How would I go about convincing them they're not?"

Seriously who was this woman? She must know her, she was the one who kept the contact details for everyone – even his one night stands (just in case they ever decided to raise trouble for Tony in the future). Ergo, she must know her because if Tony had dealt with her professionally then so had she. God, she hoped it wasn't Miss Brown – after Tony had used the name it stuck.

After closing the last button she looked at Tony again.

"It would take longer than the first one. You can't simply say it and expect them to believe you, unfortunately. The key here is to not give up. Keep making advances – nothing creepy stalker-like but nice things, flowers every now and again, chocolate, notes, letters, that sort of thing. Women like to be pursued but in a flattering manner. Compliment her, keep asking her out. Once she agrees to a first date – absolutely hands off policy at that date. And no sleeping together it would only prove her right. And behave like a gentleman if she gets drunk."

Why was she giving him advice? God, she was a fool. She could kick herself. But then Tony stepped up into her personal space and she found herself looking up into his eyes again, feeling self-conscious without her proper clothes with him that near.

"Thank you, Pep. I'll try that. Now, have I told you that you look stunning today?"

Blushing she stepped back.

"I didn't say you get to try that on me before you use it on her, Mr. Stark. I think I'll be going to prepare breakfast now."

Tony smiled as he watched her leave the room, glaring at him but the flush of colour and spirit only made her all the more attractive to him. Well, the complimenting thing really could've gone better but he had a couple of days with her in close proximity still.

"Oh – and Jarvis, call Happy and give him a week off. And notify me once Miss Potts has called the tailor."

He really had to tweak Jarvis' programming; he didn't like the dry, sarcastic tone of his AI.

"Of course, sir. But I am not certain that calling the tailor will aid in your endeavour to pursue Miss Potts."

"Smart aleck. I'll handle that, Jarvis. Just let me know."

"Of course, sir."

With that Tony walked out of his room down to the kitchen to watch his Personal Assistant cook him dinner. He wondered if she'd object to wear a kiss the cook apron. With nothing underneath. Staring at her he amended that thought – except maybe some high heels. Yep, that was a pretty good image. He somehow didn't think she'd agree; not just yet anyway. But maybe sometime in the future?

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Hey guys, I've updated early. I was too excited and couldn't contain myself. I hope you like it, please keep letting me know what you think!

Next chapter will have the scene where Pepper replaces Tony's arc reactor.


	7. Lingerie & near-kisses

Chapter 7

**This chapter is dedicated to my faithful reviewers – hope you enjoy the flirting, truth or dare (without dare) and not-quite-kisses up ahead:**

Arihimew:

Thank you for the review. More flirting up ahead!

**MJClaire: **Thank you! More flirting in this chapter. I hope this will keep it in your favourite list.**  
Trinilynn: **Yay, thank you :) Sorry, but what's archive of own? Is that the one you need an invite for? Obie will probably be another two chapters away, I'm afraid. More Pepperony build up in the mean time. Sorry, no lip kisses just yet, but hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter nonetheless.  
**Krigaren:** Yay! A new fan. Thank you so much. You're in luck. New chapter's coming. Please let me know what you think by reviewing!  
**NekaBS:** Ah, this will disrupt your study plans further then. Anyway, hope you enjoy it and thank you for the review. I appreciate you taking the time to leave me a review despite homework stresses!

Pepper sighed as she went through the ingredients. Right, healthy breakfast and something to help him regain muscle – though a part of her couldn't help but point out that he certainly didn't seem to have lost much.

She wasn't a great cook, but breakfast and smoothies she could do. Looking through her ingredients and the few recipes she knew she decided that an omelette would have to do for today.

Quickly gathering the ingredients together she became absorbed in her task and never even noticed that Tony was behind her, watching her until she turned around intending to grab some of the peppers to put into the omelette and found herself face to face with Tony.

Involuntarily she let out a small scream and stepped back, eyes wide and heart beating rapidly. In her haste she managed to stumble over the stool near the kitchen counter in her retreat and to her shock found herself losing balance, helplessly flailing her arms to regain some control – high heels were really not the best thing in a kitchen but it was her only pair of shoes available currently.

Luckily Tony's reaction was as quick as it had always been when it wasn't dulled by alcohol. His left arm snuck around her waist whilst his leg pressed between hers to give him enough room to rebalance them both as he pressed her close against his chest. For a moment she was glad to hear that it wasn't only her that had been frightened as she could hear his heart thumping loudly against her ear.

"Hey Pepper – you need to stop this habit of falling over yourself whenever you see me."

Looking up at him she was at first intending to reply in kind but as soon as she met his eyes all those thoughts flew out of her head. In lieu of the mischief she'd been expecting, his expression and eyes were tender, concerned, searching her for the second time that day for any sign of pain.

"I'm okay, Tony." She met his eyes and gave him a slight nod, her body tingling pleasantly where he touched her and Pepper was acutely aware of the fact that his leg had spread hers to squeeze between them. She wondered if he could feel the sexual tension as well or if it was only her – he had intimated that she looked rather attractive in these clothes but they felt extraordinarily comfortable and she found herself very self-conscious. The girls he usually took to bed with him were immaculately dressed, make up perfect, young and beautiful. She was usually quite confident about herself, but that was when she was dressed in her clothes and knew she looked good. Now she simply looked ... comfortable. And it bothered her – Tony was probably not really interested in her, he was simply alone with the only female in close vicinity and after three months abstinence – the longest he'd ever gone without sex as she knew all too well – he was probably just going for the nearest target. God, she was embarrassing herself by standing here for this long, enjoying the heat radiating from him. Calmly she forced herself to extricate from Tony and step back – this time making sure she avoided and stray stools – and thus missed the disappointed look Tony gave her.

Using an upbeat tone of voice she smiled at Tony before quickly grabbing the pepper and returning to preparing the food.

"How does omelette with smoothie sound for breakfast?"

"How about coffee instead of smoothie, Potts?" She could practically her the pout in his voice.

"How about not? Jarvis told me you already had two cups. No more for you, Mr. Stark, I'm cutting you of." Pausing slightly her tone of voice became softer again as she continued. "Don't worry; I'll make sure it's something you'll like."

Suddenly his voice was right next to her ear and she found herself facing him again as the omelette cooked.

"And how would you, Miss Potts, know what I like?"

Against her will she laughed at him.

"Are you kidding, Tony? I know more about what you like than about myself."

He had his eyebrows raised in a clear challenge and with a smirk on her lips she responded. She was his PA – she knew more about his sexual preferences than she'd ever wanted to know. And after working with him through days, nights, weekends and holidays she could say with certainty she knew what he liked to eat.

"Well, Mr. Stark, you love kiwi, banana, cherry, Coconut, Mango, Persimmon and Passion fruit, for example. You hate strawberries with a passion but have frequently used them in your ... sexual escapades as, ironically enough, every girl you've probably ever been with, loves them. You love chilli and pepperonis on your pizza. Your favourite food is a homemade cheeseburger with avocados on it. You love your coffee with cream and in the winter hazelnut syrup. In the summer you prefer vanilla syrup. In the afternoons you prefer the occasional espresso, usually before you have to go to meetings you dread. You hate fizzy drinks of any kind and the only sweet foods you like are chocolate and whipped cream on the girls or dark chocolate – minimum of 80% plus – and shortbread."

/****/***$%/*/*****/

As Pepper listed his favourite foods – which were all correct – he found himself more attracted to her. She was stunning – how did she know all that. He wasn't sure he could name a single thing she liked or disliked. He had paid attention to her but there were usually so many other interesting things he could think about it had never occurred to him. Suddenly he realised he'd never questioned how she'd turn up with the perfect meeting tray of biscuits and drinks, how the coffee was always perfect when she turned up.

"I thought we already had this discussion about stalking, Miss Potts? I am somewhat disturbed that you know my sexual preferences, I have to say."

He watched her as she turned down the heat on the omelette, before turning to him, looking rather exasperated.

"Tony, when you have had one of your girls over it's me who goes into the room and picks up their clothes for laundering, it's me who cleans up the whipped cream and chocolate before the chamber maids come to take care of the rest. God knows we've had a few more gossip-indulging ones and these are things that the press certainly does not need to know! Do you remember after I'd worked here for about 7 months I once brought you strawberries with your coffee and you told me you absolutely hated that vile fruit? The reason I brought it is because I had been cleaning up strawberries from your bedside table for several months!"

Well, that was embarrassing. He'd always assumed it was the chamber maids who did all that, not his PA. Usually he wasn't that awkward about sharing his sexual escapades with other people but that wasn't someone he was trying to convince to fall in love with him. That meant she'd been cleaning up after him for years and he hadn't known. It did at least explain the more uncanny knowledge she had about his sex life. Maybe now was a good time to apologise? Unfortunately the words coming out of his mouth did not resemble an apology. At all.

"Did you ever want me to lick whipped cream off your body?"

Yep, he definitely hadn't meant to say that. Though he was kind of curious now.

Instead of the flustered, startled rabbit impression he'd been expecting he could almost watch the shutters come across her eyes as she gave him an annoyed and almost disappointed look.

"Mr. Stark, you will never be licking anything off my body!"

"What if it was to save my life?"

He watched as she looked at him sceptically, left eyebrow raised.

"You need to lick whipped cream off my body to save your life?"

"What if I was diabetic?"

"I'd stick an epinephrine pen into you."

She knew he hated needles. Damn PA.

"What if there was no epinephrine pen nearby?"

"But there is whipped cream, presumably? In that case why do you need to lick this off anyone's body?"

"Because it tastes much better"

Okay, so he couldn't quite think of a medical reason and he'd at least made Pepper laugh again. But he was still curious.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

"Why are you so adverse to this, Miss Potts?"

She noticed his hazelnut eyes were focusing on her, searching for her weak spot, looking for an answer.

"Why are you the only woman resisting me? So many pretend to but are so happy to jump into bed without much convincing on my part. What makes you so different, Potts? Why do you not want me?"

To be honest, it did hurt somewhat. She had missed him she'd admitted that much. But as a friend? Or as something more? Why the hell was this one so complicated? Why couldn't Pepper be as easy as the other girls – though Tony admitted to himself that if she hadn't been he probably wouldn't have been half as interested in her. So many people had given up on him and she'd been one of the very few who kept fighting for him, believing in him, hoping he'd return. Everyone else had thrown in the towel. But why was she not interested in anything beyond that?

Pepper picked up on his vulnerability immediately. Something had changed, had eroded some of his self-confidence and she gave him a mischievous smirk, eyes soft as they met his.

"I never said I didn't want you, Tony. And I would never call you unattractive."

Tony blinked at her. Had she really just said she wanted him?

"But, Tony, I value our friendship much more than a good night. I don't want to lose what we have because of one night of pleasure. You forget that I have seen you with your one night stands. Once you have slept with them, you are no longer interested in them. You probably don't remember the names of most of them, you never bothered to get to know them because you were only interested in that one thing and once they gave you that they became boring and you discarded them for the next one to come along."

She found herself seeking out his eyes again, trying to make her point.

"Tony, I would be unable after that to get you to listen to anything I say. I would lose my job, my career and a very good friend that I hold in high esteem. I don't want that. I would never want that for us." Pepper's smile was soft and yet he could see the sadness in her eyes at the thought of losing him. She would probably lose Happy and Rhodey too – Tony was their common denominator and without him they would still be doing the crazy hours whilst she would be looking for a new job. And Tony really was one of a kind. Pepper had no illusions about finding anything similar to their relationship with anyone else.

"Besides" her smile became almost bitter "I thought you were pursuing that other woman; the one you asked me for advice on earlier?"

Tony found himself tempted to tell her that that woman was standing right in front of him, just to see how she'd take it but he knew he would have to convince her first that he wanted more than one night after the lecture she'd just given him. A lot of convincing if he wanted her to take it positively.

"I am. There'd be no one else besides you, Pep."

"Yeah, Tony, for all of one night. Now sit down and enjoy your omelette."

Grumbling Tony did as his PA instructed and sat in the chair she had pointed to and watched as she started cutting up fruit for his smoothie.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

To his great surprise, Tony did enjoy the smoothie. Not that he would ever tell her that – unfortunately by the smirk and the teasing sparkle in her eyes she already knew.

Smiling she gathered the plates and put them into the sink whilst she let the water run.

"What are you doing, Potts?"

"As surprising as it may seem, Tony, Dishes don't wash themselves just yet and with the cleaning personnel off for another week they have to be cleaned."

Tony grabbed the brush right out of her hands to her great surprise.

"In that case go watch a movie or something. You cook breakfast, I wash dishes. I'm pretty sure that's how it works."

Pepper leant forwards, trying to grab the brush back.

"In a relationship maybe. I am your employee-"

"You're on holiday, Pep."

"Really? I don't remember requesting holidays. Now if you'll kindly let me-"

He kept interrupting her every sentence. It was annoying, but she enjoyed their banter too much to stop now.

"Nah-uh. Holiday. With me – here. Now I'll wash-"

"Do you even know how to wash dishes?"

To her amusement Tony looked at her, outraged.

"Of course I know how to wash dishes! It's easy!"

Pepper laughed.

"Now this I want to see. How about you wash, I'll dry?"

She grabbed the hand towel from the side rack before gesturing at Tony to get started.

As it turned out, Tony did know how to wash dishes. She'd had a few boyfriends who put so much soap liquid in that the plates came out and needed to be rewashed. Others were still so mucky it looked as though they hadn't been cleaned at all.

The whole time they were washing up they kept bantering back and forth and Pepper's smile seemed permanently fixed, unable to stop laughing at his jokes. Tony's eyes were bright and caught hers more often than not, smirk on his lips and mischief in his face as he flicked soap bubbles at her.

For a moment she wasn't sure what to do before she hit him with the wet dish towel, laughing. He grinned wider and dunked his hand deep into the water before threateningly advancing on her, soapy hand stretched out.

Pepper couldn't stop laughing as she quickly slipped out of her shoes, naked feet making a pitter patter sound on the tiled kitchen floor as she ducked under Tony's outstretched arm and made it to the other side of the kitchen table, cheeks flushed and eyes bright.

"C'mmon Potts, you know you can't escape me."

"Hah! I think you mean you can't catch me."

On an impulse she stuck out her tongue at him, but his smirk only grew more mischievous as he jumped on top of the table. With a shriek she ran away running through the hallway and into one of the empty rooms, slamming the door behind her before sneaking out through the other door into the next corridor. This was the most fun she'd had in ages.

She thought she'd been stealthy but suddenly heard Tony behind her again.

"Is that all you've got?"

Laughing, heart rushing and blood pumping, adrenaline running through her system she took off on another sprint and after another two doors suddenly found herself outside by the pool, Tony advancing on her.

"Tony – no!"

His grin simply grew wider as he stepped closer to her.

"Think about the press! Tony!"

Her tone was warning, but he could see her lips fighting to suppress another smile.

"You know as well as I do that the press can't see up here. That's why the pool is on an elevated platform. Any last words, Potts?"

"Tony! No!"

Before she could say anything else he pushed her into the pool.

When Pepper resurfaced she was spluttering water, hair plastered to her face and his shirt clinging to her form. Tony broke into loud laughter at the side and missed his PA exiting the water, quietly stepping behind him before she pushed him into the water.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

When Tony fell into the water and felt it closing in over his head for a moment he was back in that cave, head being pushed under until he couldn't breathe anymore, before being pulled out.

Eyes wide, heart beating fast, panicking he struggled back to the surface, ignoring the pain in his arm as he used them both to resurface.

Blood rushing in his ears and adrenaline running through him he took a moment to realise that he was not in the cave, that he was not surrounded by jeering men anymore. Instead his redheaded PA was in front of him, concerned, talking to him. He was home. He was safe.

He blinked again before he could focus on what she was saying.

"-so sorry. I didn't mean to. I am so sorry, Tony. Are you alright? Come back, Tony. It's okay, you're home, you're safe. You're not back there anymore- you're here. With me. Please, Tony. I am so sorry."

She seemed to be repeating the same words, over and over again until he finally found himself calm enough, gathered enough strength to reply.

"It's okay, Pep."

He could feel the adrenaline leaving his system, could feel his heartbeat slowing down as he pulled her close to him, putting his head on her shoulders as she was for once the same height as him in the water. For a moment he allowed himself to hug her close, to breathe in the unique scent that was Pepper, to allow himself the realisation that it was okay. He was back. This was his house.

Just as he was about to release her, he felt her breasts heave in a sigh before her arms came around him and her head burrowed in his neck in relief.

"I am sorry."

Her hot breathe tickled his neck but mostly it was the strong pain in his arm that caused him to let go of her. The adrenaline had suppressed it but now it was back with a vengeance.

"It's not your fault, Pepper. Let's go down to the workshop. I'll need you to bandage my arm up again."

He could feel her blue eyes on him as he stepped out of the pool, leaning down to give her a hand up. She was studying him and he realised she'd noticed the pain.

"I hurt you, didn't I?"

If the pain hadn't been there he would have taken the time to appreciate the way his clothes clung to her, the way her breasts were moving with each breath she took, the way he could see drops of wetness on her eyelids. Instead he put the image away, to look at later as he turned towards the house.

"Not your fault, Pep. I panicked."

He grimaced at the admission. Tony Stark didn't panic. Except that he had, in front of his PA no less.

She mutely followed him to the workshop, grabbing towels out of the bathroom and a glass with painkillers from the kitchen before she rejoined him.

His main and best stocked first aid kit was down in the workshop as he was most likely to injure himself down here.

Tony watched, whilst he sat down, swallowing the tablets she gave him, as his assistant opened up the first aid kit and quickly scanned its contents before turning back to him.

Her hands were soft and they didn't exchange any words as he gritted his teeth to avoid letting her know of the pain. He suspected she knew anyway by the apologetic glances she gave him as her hands glanced over his arm, touches soft and barely shaking as she unravelled the bandages.

He watched her as she discarded the wet bandages, her motions quick and decisive before she touched his arm softly and looked up at him.

"Are you sure you're okay and don't need to go to a hospital?"

Tony barely managed to say Jarvis' name as a command but his eyes were fixed on her.

The pain was still there, but it had reduced by such a level he couldn't help but stare at her. He didn't know what it was, pheromones or whatever other bodily chemicals but she had such an impact on his pain it was hard not to be awestruck. This was science at its best.

"I scanned Mr. Stark's arm already. There is no further damage though I would certainly recommend not to keep using it in such a manner. Sir."

"You're getting more and more sarcastic and ironic. I'm not sure I like it."

"It's your programming, sir. You allowed for learning and I have been learning from Ms. Potts and yourself."

Tony frowned before acquiescing. He'd thought it would be great if his artificial intelligence would continue to learn and evolve so as to spare him to correct the programming every time. He couldn't complain about the results now.

He watched as Pepper carefully removed her hand and with the heat slowly dissipating he found the pain returning to him, but Pepper was quick and cautious and he only flinched a few times when she rewrapped his arm for him.

Once she was done she closed the first aid kit and tucked everything away again before sitting down across from him.

"Truth for Truth?"

It was something his PA had implemented when Tony had refused to give her vital information she needed. He would be able to ask her a question, any question and she'd respond truthfully in return for the same from him. Tony nodded, curious about the last three months.

"What was that in the pool?"

"Afghanistan. They used water torture – dunk me under until I couldn't breathe, let me up for a breath or two and then dunk me under again."

She looked at him, horror in her eyes, tears in the corner of her eyes, but before she could say anything he asked his question.

"What did Stane do to you?"

Pepper got herself under control. Tony never liked pity and he obviously didn't want her fussing over him. Biting her lip, she concentrated on the question he'd asked and responded with her own question.

"Ever or last three months?"

Now he looked genuinely intrigued.

"Ever."

"After I had been working for you for three weeks – we were doing a late night again, Mr. Stane came up to me. You'd told me you were not to be disturbed. By Anyone. He tried to push past me when I refused him entrance. When I stepped in his path again he tried to tower over me and came too close for comfort. I told him I'd inform you once you were out that you wanted to speak with him. He said "Miss Potts, you will sleep with him just as all the previous PA's and you have no right to speak to me that way. Tony will listen to me if I tell him to fire you." Then he physically pushed me out of the way before entering your room. I believe you later told me off for letting him in. Similar instances have taken place over the years. He tries to use his size and moving into my personal space against me. He's tried to discredit me in meetings, tried to talk over what I am saying or counter what I am saying in front of important clients. He's changed meeting times, press times etc. Will that suffice as an answer?"

Tony stared. Eight years and he'd never known. It had never occurred to him. Obadiah had worked with his father, he'd known him since he was a small boy. Had Stane done similar things to his previous PA's?

"What changed over in Afghanistan?"

Pulling himself from his thoughts, he contemplated his reply.

"There was a guy in captivity with me. His name was Yinsen, I told you a bit about him." At her nod he continued. "We kept talking over the months. At the time I hadn't realised his family was dead, I only knew his village had been attacked with my weapons. He told me he was looking forward to being reunited with his family. When he asked me what was waiting for me at home, Pepper, I realised that there was no one. I had two friends, you and Rhodey. There was nothing else. I realised that if I were to die out there in the cave that my legacy to the world would be bigger and greater weapons, my legacy would be destruction. And it occurred to me that I have so much to offer to the world, that I have so much I could create and I realised that's what I wanted my legacy to be. Creation. Something to help people, like Yinsen had helped me. It's in part to repay him but a much larger part is to prove to myself that I can do something more, something better."

Fascinated, Pepper watched Tony's expression. It was open, for once, as he spoke about the change of heart, about what he wanted, what he envisioned and his passion pulled her along with him as it had always done, making her yearn for the image he had created. A smile curled on her lips as she looked at him, amazed at the changes he would likely create.

"Who made you cry, Pep?"

His eyes were sad and compassionate as they looked at her. So he knew.

"A lot of things, Tony. I was under too much stress, I couldn't keep hold of my emotions. You were missing, Obadiah desperately wanted the position as CEO instead of me, employees who thought I didn't deserve the promotion, the press who was looking for a new target, business partners who didn't want to work with a female CEO or thought they could run roughshod over me. Tony, it was an emotionally exhausting three months."

"Did I make you cry?" That was the one she'd wanted to avoid.

"Yes, Tony, you did. The CEO position took me by surprise. I wasn't sure I was competent enough anymore after that meeting until Jarvis told me what you thought of me. That helped a bit, but it really would've been good to hear it from you. When you were missing I found myself having to argue so many times, convince so many people and ignore so many people, all of them wanted me to give up: on you, on the CEO position, on everything. I couldn't and wouldn't do it but Rhodey was so far away and Happy was a good sounding board but I missed you. You're a jerk a lot of the time and you cause so many problems with the press when you're here but I missed you. It used to be us against everyone – or well, you against everyone with me covering your back. Suddenly I found myself defenceless and surrounded by sharks. So yes, your absence made me cry a lot of times."

Brown eyes rested on her, sad and hopeful at once but Pepper could feel the desperation again, as if he had never come back, but fought against and posed her next question to Tony.

"How did you escape?"

Her boss laughed slightly.

"Ah, the million dollar question. I built a metal suit for me instead of the Jericho they wanted. It had only minimal flight capabilities, a flamethrower and resistant to most bullets. It saved my life and managed to get me away from the cave before it fell to bits and I crashed to the ground."

Eyes wide, she stared at him.

"And you came up with the whole thing in only three months?"

"Nah, I came up with it, planned it, put it on separate bits of paper so it wouldn't make sense unless you put all the pieces together. Then I built it."

Tony found himself wanting to impress her and he succeeded. Mouth open, she looked at him in wonder.

"Now, my question." Oh no. She needed to end this Truth game now. She recognised the naughty smile he threw her. One more question and that was it.

"Do you sleep in pyjamas, underwear or nothing at all?"

"TONY! That is in no way relevant to us working together. Ask a different question."

"Nope. The rule was ANY question allowed. Not only work-related questions. Now answer."

Pepper huffed a sigh and felt her face slowly taking on the same hue as her hair as she muttered her reply.

"Sorry – I didn't hear that. Louder, please, Potts."

His grin had widened and she doubted he hadn't heard but she complied anyway.

"Nothing. Okay? Now this game is over. You need to dry yourself."

"One more Potts" His voice was rough and eyes were wide. She noticed his hand clenching around the arm rest at his side. "When you sleep over in the guest room – any clothes?"

"ANTHONY EDWARD STARK!"

She could see the arousal in his eyes, the lust, could see the fantasies forming in his head.

"Actually, never mind. My imagination will suffice."

"If you start drooling, I am going to laugh." She glared at him, arms crossed under her bosom.

"Sue me. You're in my clothes, wet shirt clinging to you and your nipples are erect. What do you expect me to be thinking about! By the way, your arms crossed underneath only pushes your breasts out further at me."

"ANTHONY EDWARD STARK you are a DEAD MAN!"

Now bright red, Pepper crossed her arms defensively over her chest, noticing Tony leering at her, eyes slowly going over her body, undressing her.

"Does that mean you'd have to come close to me? To kill me? Because hey, at least I'd die as a very happy man."

Flushing even further she grabbed her towel and fled the room. Maybe not the wisest or most composed departure she'd ever made but she hadn't known what else to do.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

After half an hour Jarvis notified him that Pepper had finally placed the call with the tailor. He quickly phoned him to add and amend her order which the tailor agreed to after a handsome bonus was agreed on.

Whistling slightly he returned to the model he was just finishing.

"Completion in 16 minutes, sir."

Grinning, Tony grabbed everything and got himself organised, cameras and screens orientated so he could see what he was doing. As soon as he took the current arc reactor out he noticed the copper wire. Unfortunately, when he tried to put his own hand in he couldn't reach it and he couldn't see what he was doing anymore. So much for the simple exchange of arc reactors.

His eyes glanced over his robot arms but he really did not want to risk that so he called Pepper.

"Pepper - how big are your hands?"

"What?" Her response was immediate and she sounded very confused.

"How big are your hands?"

Tony repeated the question and then realised that Pepper obviously thought this was another one of his innuendos.

"I don't understand. Why-"

"Never mind. Get down here. I need you."

Sure enough that brought her down to the workshop in record time, her expression concerned as she obviously wondered what this was about.

"Hey. Let's see them. Show me your hands."

He watched as she slowly approached, taking in the dark room and him illuminated by the lights, screens around him. Her expression was still confused and hesitant.

"Let's see them."

Tony found himself demonstrating what he wanted her to do and watched as she warily lifted her hands, turning them around for him to see.

"Oh wow, they are small. Very petite indeed."

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise as she looked at him again, unsure what to make of his comments.

"I just need you to help me for a sec" he explained and found himself staring at the bright blue new arc reactor he had invented.

"Oh my god is that the thing that's keeping you alive?"

"It was. It is now an antique. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future." He held up the newer, shinier version, before continuing his explanation.

"I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit and I just ran into a little speed bump."

/****/***$%/*/*****/

"Speed bump? What does that mean?"

That word did not sound good. What if he needed her to remake his old one or repair it because his invention hadn't quite worked out? Oh my god. Don't panic! Enough panicking for one day. Deep breaths.

"It's nothing. It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device." She watched as he disconnecting the current arc reactor. "And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short." She heard a loud snap which sounded like an electric short – almost. "It's fine."

He lifted the arc reactor up to her hands and she automatically found herself holding onto it, whilst staring at the hole in his chest before focussing back onto the object in her hands.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"Put that on the table over there." He vaguely waved to the table on her left. For a moment she felt like a nurse in an operating room and that looked like the table with the scalpel on it. She involuntarily cringed before turning back to Tony. She hoped there was no blood or cutting involved. "That is irrelevant."

Tony's naked chest. Hairless naked chest. She wanted to laugh; he'd shaved - or waxed - his chest. This was hilarious, but the situation brought her back to reality before the laughter could bubble forth, focussing on Tony's face again.

"I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."

"Is it safe?"

"Yeah, it should be fine."

"Should be? Tony... Jarvis, show me a diagram, please. Which wire am I trying to get?"

One of the screens flashed and changed to a diagram of the arc reactor and the magnet as well as the wire they were talking about.

"Am I trying to reconnect the wire or just yank it out?"

Tony stared at her momentarily in surprise, before saying "It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes 'beep'."

Operation? Blood, tissue, screaming, scalpel-using operation? Pepper's face went white.

"What do you mean, 'Operation'?"

"It's just a game, never mind. Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great."

"So what am I doing? Pull it out without touching the metal sides as you'll get a shock otherwise and since it's close to your heart we prefer to avoid that? Okay. I can do that."

Her arms moved towards his chest but then she retracted. What if something went wrong? What if she caused him a heart attack? What if he died because she didn't do it right? Couldn't he get a doctor? They would surely be better at operation games...

"You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this."

Tony looked up at her; the panic was written all over her face. He leant over and with his left hand clasped her hands. He remembered what she'd said earlier about needing to hear what he thought of her from him. He made sure he had eye contact with her, before responding.

"No, you're fine. You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great."

Pepper stared at him, eyes wide. She'd never thought Tony would ever tell her what he thought of her. His brown eyes were focused solely on her and for a moment it was as though she was the only person in the world. Tony believed in her. She could see the trust he had for her reflected in his eyes and she smiled at him, grateful.

Tony breathed in, before speaking again to her. Pepper had never refused him when he told her he needed her. Not ever, not when he asked her.

"Is it too much of a problem to ask? Because I'm... I really need your help here."

Pepper smiled at him, squeezing his hands and nodded, feeling lighter and as if she could push a mountain if Tony just asked her to.

"Okay."

She absently stroked his chest before putting her hand in his chest. She did find herself squirming at the squidgy feeling she encountered, grimacing slightly.

"Oh, there's pus!" She knew it technically wasn't but it was hard to get rid of the image. She had her hand shoved in someone's body. Excuse her for being somewhat irked.

Tony rolled his eyes. "It's not pus. It's an inorganic, plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better whilst I grope blindly around inside you inside the squidqy, inorganic, plasmic discharge. And urgh. It smells."

Tony grinned slightly at her rant. "Yeah, it does. Now, the copper wire. You got it?"

"You're enjoying this too much Tony. I would have thought I'd be the one in control since it's my hand in your body fiddling with life-threatening copper wires and arc reactors. But yes, I got it."

Tony smirked at her, before focussing on the task at hand.

"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch the sides when you're coming out."

Pepper rolled her eyes, but bit her bottom lip as she strained to ensure the wire wouldn't touch anything. Once she had the exposed end of the wire safely outside, she released the breath she hadn't been aware of holding in, before giving Tony a tiny glare.

"You know I won't forget your instructions within 5 seconds. You don't need to repeat them endlessly."

"Forgive me for trying to ensure we both survive this. Now, there's a magnet attached to the end of the wire. When that is pulled out you only have maybe a minute before I go into cardiac arrest."

"What? I thought you said it was safe."

"It is, if done in a controlled manner. I trust you, Pep. You can do this."

Breathing in deeply, she nodded at Tony to proceed.

"Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you pull out the magnet gently and then put the entire thing to the side. This one will then need to be put in instead."

Tony handed her the other one and Pepper awkwardly put it to the side of Tony's body.

Holding eye contact she waited until Tony nodded before putting her left hand on Tony's chest so she could pull the wire and magnet out entirely. She heard all the monitors beep and quickly put the arc reactor to the side. Her hands were shaking now and she allowed herself another moment as she grabbed the new arc reactor.

"Tony?" He looked up at her, but the movement was sluggish as if it took a lot of effort to move.

"It's going to be okay. I'm gonna make this okay."

He smiled. "I wouldn't have asked you, if I didn't believe in you. Okay,"

Pepper put her left hand with the cable in first. She knew at least this bit.

"Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you...!"

Tony yelped and she could see his colour returning already. Thank god. He was alright.

"There, was that so hard? That was fun, right?"

Her breathing was still a little bit too fast as she allowed the arc reactor to click into place.

"Nice."

"Nice? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel great."

"Good, then I can kill you now. What the hell were you thinking? Does this have to be done periodically? Because I almost had a heart attack doing this!"

"Are you okay?" Tony was laughing. The bastard. She knew he'd had the real heart attack but it felt like she'd had one too. He could really be more sympathetic.

"No, I'm not okay! Do you realise I had my hand inside your body. Inside! That is beyond not okay. So don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again."

She noticed him grow more serious and hazelnut eyes met hers.

"I don't have anyone but you."

She could feel her resistance melting, last annoyances forgotten as she slowly forgot the world around them.

"Tony" She smiled at him whilst he gave her a wry grin in return, feeling uncomfortable at his confession. Then Pepper leaned down and slowly pressed her lips to his cheek, the feel of the short hairs tickling her lips before whispering "I don't have anyone but you either, Tony."

Tony's smile was echoed by her and she found herself watching silently as the half naked man in front of her stood up and handed her the towel he'd had over his lap.

"That plasmic discharge thing is still disgusting though"

He laughed as she wiped her hands on the towel before she turned back to him, the old arc reactor in her hands.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it." He was already turning back to the screens in his lab.

"You don't want to keep it?" She couldn't help glance over his muscular back before he turned back to face her, blue glow of his current arc reactor much brighter than the previous' one.

"Pepper, I've been called many things. 'Nostalgic' is not one of them."

She laughed. She'd probably been one of the people calling him names. He grinned back, feeling much better with the improved arc reactor in his chest.

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"That will be all, Miss Potts." His eyes followed her as she made her way back upstairs, before he turned to Butterfingers.

Pepper smiled when Jarvis alerted her that the tailor had dropped the first part of the delivery off at the door. They were the only necessities she'd requested for the night and tomorrow morning. Everything else could wait.

"Thanks Jarvis."

She found several bags by the door and quickly put them into the guest room Tony had designed for her after asking Jarvis to close the blinds to stop the reporters from seeing, that is.

When she opened the first one she stopped before carefully putting her hand back in and pulling out the very lacy and intricate blue bra. It was beautiful, she had to admit. But, more importantly, it was not what she had ordered.

"ANTHONY EDWARD STARK!"

Fuming, bra in hand, she ran down to the workshop, punching in her pin code before entering.

Tony was stopped half-way through the last correction run on his suit when she appeared.

"You better have a damn good explanation for this, Tony, or you're going to meetings every day next week."

He grinned.

"What, don't like it? I thought it would match your eyes. Come on, Potts, try it on. Let's see what it looks like."

"Over my dead body" she hissed. Uh-oh. That was not good. Pepper hissing meant she was really, really angry.

"Okay, now Potts don't do anything you'll regret."

"You're right. Meetings for two weeks with no break."

"And who are the meetings going to be with? The company is currently without any direction. No meetings to be had."

"Stark, listen to me. I. Don't. Care. Now why is there a blue bra among my order from the tailor?"

"Hmm. I presume you didn't unpack the rest then yet?"

Her eyes widened in horror before she ran back up to check the rest of the bags. Still amused, Tony followed her.

"TONY!"

He entered her room without knocking at the shout.

"Yes my dear?"

She held up a sheer silk night gown. It was cream coloured and would probably only go to just below her bottom and show quite a décolleté. It was certainly not what she'd requested.

"That is not what I ordered."

"I know. I took the liberty of advising the tailor to bring you a much more ... interesting assortment of clothes."

"This, Tony, is something I'd wear if I wanted to seduce my boyfriend not whilst I am sleeping in the same house as my boss."

"You have a boyfriend?"

"Really? That's what you pick out from all that? Really?"

He loved her annoyed, despite how threatening it was to his continued well being. She was Pepper then, through and through, spark in her eyes, entire body in motion. He wanted to do nothing more than kiss her, but for now he had to sort this out.

"Yeah, now have you got a boyfriend?"

Sighing she rubbed her forehead.

"No Tony. There is no boyfriend – not that it's any of your concern. Hypothetical situation. That still doesn't mean it's okay to wear this when I'm sleeping in the same house as you are. You are my boss."

"I am. And I order you to wear that tonight. Hold, no actually. Either wear that or nothing. I'd be fine with either one, really."

Pepper sighed again.

"Tony, you are missing the point. You are not my boyfriend. You don't get to buy me clothes – especially not underwear or sexy little things."

"Well there's an easy solution to all this."

Rolling her eyes she looked up at him.

"Uh-huh. Let's hear it then."

"Virginia Pepper Potts, would you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?"

"Tony, seriously." She slapped him on his uninjured arm.

"I am serious."

"No, you're not. You're Anthony Stark, playboy extraordinaire. Now what am I meant to do with all these...?"

She lifted up bags and bags of lingerie – including the dreaded garter belt – with only one bag of clothes that she had actually ordered.

"Wear them? I'd be happy for you to model them for me, you know."

"I am sure you would be. Not happening."

With that she pushed him out the door and then closed it behind him.

Time to face the music.

She slowly drew one of the bags towards her, going through the items one by one. She had to admit he had good taste. All the lingerie felt incredibly soft, most were made of silk and she had to admit she would never spend the amount of money these probably would have cost on herself. Hesitating momentarily she pulled of the AC/DC shirt before pulling one of the bras on.

It felt perfect, cradling her body, not inhibiting her movements. It was so incredibly soft and she found herself falling in love with the clothes.

Now curious she delved into the other bags. There were some shoes included which were stunningly beautiful and there was a magnificent blue dress which she knew she was going to wear to the next event she was attending on behalf of Tony.

God, she could never return these treasures. They were all so wonderful. She longingly touched the dress before pulling the AC/DC shirt back on. Now she needed to find Tony.

She finally located him on the terrace, staring out at the ocean.

"Hey Pep. I am sorry if I overstepped a bit."

She found herself smiling as she sank to the floor next to him.

"About that... Promise these clothes are not a bribe, no strings attached?"

He stared at her, before a slow smile stretched across his face.

"Yeah, no strings attached. All yours. You like them?"

"Turns out your taste isn't so bad. And I would never spend as much on clothes as you have for me. So... Thank you. They're beautiful."

Tony grinned, relaxing as he leaned back.

"I am glad you like them, Potts. Just for future reference I wouldn't mind you modelling them still, if you need someone to, you know, help you decide or anything."

She laughed.

"Not in a million years, Stark."

"Well you're already wearing one of the bras. I take it we are good then?"

"WHAT?" Pepper flushed. "How do you know that? JARVIS!" She self-consciously crossed her arms across her chest.

"Hey, Pep. It's not Jarvis. I would never ask him to show me videos of you undressing because, whilst tempting, that's kind of crossing a boundary and besides I don't think that's your kink. I am the one who likes to be watched by people." He winked at her. "Nah, a man can just tell if a woman's wearing a bra or not."

"You knew?"

He nodded. "I don't mind if you decide to wear my clothes without a bra. It's kind of flattering in a roundabout way."

"Oh god." Flushing to the roots of her hair, she hid her face in her palms. "This is so embarrassing."

"Only because you let it be. Only a couple of hours ago your hand was up to your wrist inside my body. You can't get more awkward than that. Don't be embarrassed. It's only me."

"Tony, this is awkward because it's you. You're my boss. I've had more faux-pas in one day here than I've had in the entire previous eight years!"

"You worry too much, Pepper. Relax, enjoy the moment. We're both here which is more than we could've said two days ago. If you're still uncomfortable" He gave her a cheeky grin. "you could always kiss me again. I wouldn't mind."

"That was your cheek! It was purely platonic."

"Uh-huh. Well let me return the favour and give you a purely platonic kiss, then."

Eyes widening she retreated but quickly found Tony above her, trapping her on either side with his arm and body.

Pepper watched as his face came ever closer and found her eyes fluttering closed when she felt his breath mixing with hers. She could feel his rough lips as they touched the corner of her lips and mostly her cheek, could feel his facial hair tickling her, smelt Tony's scent everytime she breathed in. It seemed to last a lifetime and was yet too short when he moved back, slowly. Her eyes met his and it was all she could do to not pull him fully on top of her.

Well, this is where it ends for now. Keep letting me know what you think, please. I need more reviews!


	8. Sleeping together and negligees

Chapter 8 – Sleeping together and negligees

**This chapter is dedicated to my faithful reviewers:  
Arihimew **Thank you very much. It's very flattering :) Hopefully you'll like this chapter too. Please keep reviewing!

**Trinilynn: **Rhodey's coming back before Obie interjects. But read this chapter, there is a bit more interaction between Tony and Pepper first. Please review again! Thank you!

**NekaBS: **Yay, thank you very much. Hope you're not neglecting school or sleep over this too much. Anyway, here's the next chapter, hopefully you'll like it. Please review again!

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**Guests: **Thank you both for reviewing. Please let me know what you think of the latest chapter.

**Amanda: **There is quite a bit of relationship development in this chapter. Thank you for reviewing and please let me know what you think of this one!

**Brubs: **No kisses, but definitely more sexual tension ahead. Let me know what you think of this one and thank you for reviewing!

**MJClaire: **Hmmm... don't know about the benefit but before that we still have dates, Rhodey and press conferences. Thank you for reviewing, hopefully you'll enjoy this one just as much.

**Belle97: **Thank you for your two reviews. It's very appreciated. You got me up to 36 reviews. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. Please keep reviewing :)

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**RECAP last chapter:**

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"Uh-huh. Well let me return the favour and give you a purely platonic kiss, then."

Eyes widening she retreated but quickly found Tony above her, trapping her on either side with his arm and body.

Pepper watched as his face came ever closer and found her eyes fluttering closed when she felt his breath mixing with hers. She could feel his rough lips as they touched the corner of her lips and mostly her cheek, could feel his facial hair tickling her, smelt Tony's scent every time she breathed in. It seemed to last a lifetime and was yet too short when he moved back, slowly. Her eyes met his and it was all she could do to not pull him fully on top of her.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Heart in her throat Pepper's eyes were fixed on Tony's watching the desire and love shining in his brown eyes when he was only a few centimetres from her face. She could feel his nose touch hers softly, his breath and hers mingling with every exhale, felt his chest on top of her, his heat encompassing her, flooding her entire body.

She had kisses before, many of them. Yet none of them had evoked even close to the reaction this man got from her. He had only barely touched the corner of her lips yet all she wanted was to feel his rough lips on hers, to feel the rush she'd just had multiply a thousand fold. She wanted him to devour her mouth, to touch her body, to make her feel as if she was the only woman in the world that he would ever want and she wanted to say damn the consequences. Every cell of her body was screaming for him, for his lips on hers, yet she knew she could never get the image out of her head of waking up in the morning, alone in Tony's big bed whilst he was absorbed in his work down in the workshop and waited for her to escort herself out.

She could feel her heart shatter as she pulled away from him, as she watched all the fantasies his mind had undoubtedly spun be crushed beneath her feet as she stood up, eyes still on him because she didn't think she could look away if she tried. A part of her wanted to stop Tony from closing himself off again, wanted to kiss him, wanted to ask him to take her to his bed, to make her forget, to make him forget. Yet Pepper Potts did none of that.

She'd always been the epitome of self-control around him. This wasn't the first time she'd wanted to give in, just the first time he had shown such an interest in her and the first time she had come so close to giving in.

"I believe I will now be ordering dinner. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

Bless Tony for falling back onto their routine so quickly, for not touching her again because she wasn't sure if she could have stopped herself in time from kissing him if he had.

"That will be all, Miss Potts."

With a cool nod she turned around and left the terrace, left Tony to his thoughts.

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"Jarvis, please order something. Anything."

Sighing, Pepper retreated to her room and collapsed on the bed. Well, that certainly could have gone better. Tony had always been... well Tony-like. But this was the first time he had actually made a physical advance on her. He usually stopped at looks and flirty words, never beyond that. One day and suddenly everything was starting to turn on its head and she didn't know what to do or think anymore. Nothing made sense anymore.

"Certainly, Miss Potts. There will be a delivery from Mr. Stark's favourite Trattoria in 25 minutes."

25 minutes to sort out her thoughts and her approach. She desperately needed to regain some professionalism because that had definitely been lacking in the last few days.

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Sitting back, Tony contemplated the last few minutes. He had never actually intended to kiss her; well, not at this very moment at least. He'd been impulsive, something that hadn't happened in years. Usually, despite his devil-may-care attitude he'd made sure not to throw anything beyond casual comments and glances her way because he liked her.

Virginia Potts was the first PA he'd had that he could not only work with but that he enjoyed being around. Everything she did was different to the other woman who fell over themselves in an attempt to please him. Pepper challenged him, she fought him, she argued with him and she put him in his place yet at the same time she made sure to touch him, to always back him up and to represent him to the best of her ability. They were a team and had functioned well together from the get go; he'd never bothered to put a label to their relationship because he had never wanted to analyse it that closely. Afghanistan had forced him to though and now he still found it a never ending mantra in his head. He had come so close to kissing her lips, wanting to feel her fall apart beneath him as they kissed; as a compromise he'd allowed himself to press his lips dangerously close to the corner of her lips, had felt her inhale in shock, saw her close her eyes and abandon caution for a moment.

And by god, he'd wanted her. And not only in the writhing on his bed, screaming his name kind of way. He honestly wanted her in his life as something more than his PA, something more than a friend. And it scared him, because it was the one thing he'd never wanted, never done before. He was sure to mess up only this time it would be Pepper who'd take the brunt of the fallout and he didn't want that. Everything was so confusing.

The Tony he'd become now wanted nothing more than a relationship with Pepper Potts. He could easily envision it; funnily enough it would be quite similar to the way they were already interacting. There would be the frequent soft touches and the stolen kisses (okay, that part was not happening yet) and there would be shouting matches and shoes flung and he loved every minute of it. Fiery red hair and a personality to match; his PA didn't exactly know but the reason why he kept annoying and bugging her until she exploded was because she became the hottest, most intriguing and passionate woman alive. In those moments he could never even think of anyone else. Pepper would be the only thing on his mind but unfortunately not in the scared way she probably thought he was but instead in the 'God, I really, really hope she's this passionate in bed' kind of way.

Suffice to say his thoughts tended to stray away from whatever his PA was annoyed with and revolved around her on top of him in bed – though the bed wasn't really a necessary component. Tony had to admit to himself that if Pepper ever wanted him he wouldn't really hesitate no matter their location; luckily, other woman didn't have this effect on him or she'd have made him eunuch by now for all the photographs and videos that would probably have existed of him.

Sighing to himself Tony went back into the workshop. He really wasn't made for this kind of inner contemplation. He was more of a hands-on kind of guy; inventing and building was his thing. Meaningless sex, endless parties and drunken stupor were things he was definitely good at. Now here he was contemplating the right and sensible approach to seducing and marrying (Him! Marrying!) his PA. It wasn't right.

So instead he focused all his mental energies on arc reactor technologies, his suit and keeping his heart beating. It only worked partly; more than once Tony had found himself sitting motionlessly, touching his lips at the memory of feeling her skin under it and tasting her for a short moment.

$%$%$%%$%$%$%/*/*/*/*/*/*

Dinner passed as a surprisingly stiff and awkward affair, where every glance was too much and too long and every touch had Pepper sitting ramrod straight in her seat, hands quickly placed in her lap looking anywhere but at him.

It drove Tony nuts but he also knew she'd come around. To be honest both of them probably needed time to think about themselves and so they found themselves awkwardly wishing each other a good night before disappearing into their respective bedrooms.

$%$%$%%$%$%$%/*/*/*/*/*/*

"Miss Potts, Mr. Stark's breathing and heart rate are increased and his perspiration is quite high."

Jarvis' voice woke her out of her sleep and as soon as she had grasped what he was saying she was out the door and on her way to Tony's bedroom.

When she arrived at his bed she cautiously sat down on the edge of it, before starting to talk to Tony. It was only when his movement quietened somewhat that she touched him, knowing he'd need a moment to throw off the nightmare as she was likely to get kicked or hit otherwise whilst he was under its throes.

"Ssh, hey Tony. It's just me, Pepper. Everything's okay. You're okay. You're in Malibu in your home, with me, Jarvis and your bots. You are okay. I am right here with you. You're in your bed in your house. You're safe. You're here with me, your Pepper Potts."

She watched him, concerned, slowly stroking his shoulders and arm. Finally, far too slowly for her liking, his forehead smoothed out and his body relaxed. The tenseness and the frown in his face gone he appeared to drift off into happier dreams.

Sighing in relief, Pepper found her own shoulders relax as the stress left her and she finally realised the comical situation – here she was in her very short negligee bought by her boss, sitting on his bed and still insisting their relationship was purely platonic. Luckily none of the reporters could see her now.

Smiling to herself at her own ridiculous behaviour Pepper stood up and turned to leave. Before she ever even made it to the door, she heard Tony moan again in pain, obviously back under the thrall of the nightmare.

With quick steps she was back at his side, calming him down again. Unfortunately even Tony's brain half-asleep was very quick. It had obviously realised that the nice hand stroking it stopped the bad dreams and so his hand had wound itself around hers and he pulled her with him as he turned.

Taken by surprise Pepper found herself stretched across the length of the bed as her arm was underneath Tony's own in an astonishingly firm hold.

"Tony, you have to let go."

He made a noise that was definitely a protest. Pepper frowned before gritting her teeth. This was not happening.

"Tony. Let me go, now."

Her voice was louder and firm but her boss still didn't bother to wake up. Bastard.

Even when she crawled a bit closer so she could use her other arm to shake him he gave no response. This couldn't really be happening.

Desperate she tried to tickle him but he just moved away and pulled her with him.

Huffing in annoyance but somewhat resigned Pepper collapsed on the bed beside him.

"You are incorrigible. Even when you're asleep you're trying to get me into your bed. Guess what, you finally succeeded. Hopefully now you'll at least get some good sleep."

Pepper yawned and after a slight pause she pulled up the duvet so she could climb underneath it. It wasn't exactly proper; her negligee clung to her body and showed a lot more breast than she liked. On top of that it ended half-way down her thigh. If she bent over she would show more than she ever wanted already and now this was the only piece of cloth between her body and her boss' as he had decided to only wear boxers to bed.

Just fabulous. She shouldn't have tempted fate earlier. As it turned out it very much could get worse and far more precarious than she'd thought.

Nevertheless the heat from the body in front of her and the soft pillows allowed Pepper to fall asleep far faster than she'd intended.

$%$%$%%$%$%$%/*/*/*/*/*/*

Tony woke slowly from his sleep.

Almost immediately he became aware that he'd managed to entangle arms and legs with the person in bed with him –which was surprising since he was never one for cuddling after sex and usually just waited until his ... companions were asleep before leaving the room. Even on the odd occasions where he did fall asleep he'd found himself on opposite ends of the bed.

It took him a moment to blink the sleepiness away enough to appreciate what his eyes were telling him; only 5 centimetres away from his face lay his PA. They were both on their sides, facing each other. Her red hair spilt across the pillows in a mess, a stark contrast to the white covers, and he noticed somehow his right hand was completely entangled in it. Her face was relaxed in her sleep, her lips very slightly opened and twisted into a small smile. She was captivating and it took Tony a moment to stop staring at the simple sight of her in his bed.

He was surprised to find his left hand half on her hip, half on her backside to press her body even closer to his. It did explain how they managed to be so close. Her right hand was pressed against the arc reactor in his chest and her right leg was at a ninety degree angle across his legs whilst her other leg was snug between his two legs. It ensured that he could feel the heat from her against his upper thigh and that did nothing to calm his arousal.

The other 'problem' was that because she'd stretched her legs across his body her negligee had ridden up and exposed her lower half of her body; it was also why he could feel her soft skin under his left hand instead of the silky fabric.

Oh god, Pepper was going to kill him. Unfortunately Tony had been so occupied staring at the woman in front of him this had occurred to him somewhat late.

Aforementioned PA was stretching, pressing her breasts into Tony's chest – which also didn't help – before fixing him with a sleepy stare from two blue eyes and arresting his manoeuvres to free them.

"You're an Octopus, you know that?"

Pepper yawned slightly, blinking at him sleepily. Tony paused.

"I'm sorry – what?"

"You – Octopus. Or a big cuddly teddy bear." Pepper rubbed her eyes slightly, knowing Tony probably didn't want her knowing about his nightmares so she avoided mentioning them. "I came in to check on you and you wouldn't let go. Couldn't wake you either. Then you wrapped yourself around me."

She shrugged delicately before yawning again.

"God, I haven't slept this well in ages."

Unwillingly Tony raised his eyebrow to stare at her and it took Pepper a moment to catch on, before she rolled her eyes and blushed slightly.

"Shut up."

Smirking slightly Tony pressed closer again to her and turned them until he was on top of her and she was lying beneath him, red hair messily across his pillows and blue eyes sleepily blinking up at him. He came closer to her face until his cheek pressed against hers and his hot breath ghosted over her ear as he spoke.

"Is that an order, Miss Potts?"

When he leant back he could see her face had turned an even darker colour but now her smile had turned into mischievous grin.

"Hmm. Is it just me or are you excited to see me this morning?"

Tony hadn't quite known what to make of this comment until the redhead rolled her hips slightly and he was too unprepared for the movement to suppress the groan as she made contact, eyes rolling to the back of his head for a moment at the heavenly feel before he could refocus on her. The sheer thought that Virginia Potts was the one doing this to him was enough to unravel him slightly and by god that had short movement had been mind-blowing. He clenched his hands slightly to stop himself from creating more friction and trying to ensure he stayed at least a few millimetres from her body, enough to feel the heat radiate but not sufficient to actually touch her.

"God, Pep" He allowed his head to sink against where her neck stopped and her shoulder began, lips pressing onto her collarbone, inhaling the intoxicating scent that was purely Pepper, before lifting himself up enough to look at her again.

Pepper's smirk had widened at his reaction, too tired to think too much about the situation at hand and simply enjoying the reaction she was getting from the man above her who she knew now at least was_ very_ interested in her body.

"Soo... You had good dreams then, last night, huh?"

Her smirk widened and her eyes glittered with mischief. Tony couldn't help but think that she looked only more sexy when she was up to something.

Caressing her silky cheek softly with his hands his eyes searched out hers, remembering the remarkably vivid dreams he'd had of her – and to his surprise most of them had just been them together, not necessarily in a sexual way, to there had been a few of those too.

"Only of you, Pepper Potts."

His voice was slightly husky but even she couldn't deny the feelings she saw reflected in Tony's eyes. Feelings for her.

"I- Tony?"

To her surprise her own voice came out a lot quieter and more uncertain than she'd meant to.

He hummed, nuzzling against her neck again before he pressed a soft butterfly kiss to her shoulder and looked up at her again. His smile was wry as he saw the hesitation in her face, the uncertainty and he rolled over until he was on the bed beside her, facing the ceiling, instead of hovering above her.

"I did not mean to make you uncomfortable, Pep. But having you pressed against me in the morning – god, Pep!" He turned his head slightly, so he could look at her and noticed her own eyes were searching his face, uncertain as to what he was saying.

"Right, I know this isn't exactly how I planned it or how you told me to do it, but... Virginia Potts, would you go on a date with me?"

He watched her eyes widen, mouth open obviously connecting the dots to his questions the previous day. For once he actually found himself nervous. He'd never really been able to predict Pepper well and she continually surprised him.

"I- You- Are you-" Shaking her head, Pepper sat up in the bed to look at him, thoughts running rampant. Could she really presume that he'd been talking about her?

Tony couldn't help but watch as she sat upright and the duvet pooled in her lap. The negligee she was wearing – which he'd never thought in a million years he'd get to see her in – left little to the imagination and shimmered with every movement she made, distracting him. He could see the swell of her breasts before they were covered by the silk and he could see her upper thigh.

He found himself swallowing, throat dry and he knew his eyes weren't on her face but damn.

It took him another moment to meet her eyes again, willing himself to remember this image for the rest of his life.

"Tony, who were you talking about when you were saying there was a woman you were interested in yesterday?"

"You."

He watched as she absorbed his words, cataloguing it like she did with everything else he said and observed as she fitted the pieces of him in her head around that fact.

"I don't understand. You know I won't agree to be a one night stand. You know what we stand to lose if this doesn't go well. You're Tony Stark. You don't do relationships and I can't agree to anything less than that. So what is it that you want?"

Yeah, he'd definitely done this too early.

"Pep, I've changed. I know I haven't had much chance to show it to you yet, but I'm not the same as before. I don't want one night stands; I don't want an endless string of women. I only want you, Pepper Potts. And yes, I know what we could lose if we did this but you're forgetting what we could gain! Pepper, I have had three months to think about this and you were on my mind constantly. And I regretted not having allowed there to be an 'us' but only a 'you and me'. I want more, too, Potts. I want you in my life, fully and not just as PA or as a friend. I want you, more than anything."

Pepper softened, noticing how vulnerable he felt. She knew him too well to not notice the signs of how awkward he was feeling.

"I am not – Tony, you are a very interesting and wonderful person. You could've always had more, but I have watched you for eight years. I know what happens to women who have sex with you. And I can't go through that. I can't wake up in an empty bed in the morning. I know you're saying now that you are not interested in other women, that you only want me but how long will that last? How long until everything crashes down around us? And I don't think we could work together still if that happened. You have never given any indication that you wanted more than a good night from anyone and I find myself hard pressed to believe it."

"I am still in bed with you, does that count?"

His grin was sheepish and Pepper found herself smiling back involuntarily.

"I know I haven't shown you anything, but give me a chance. One date. That's all I ask."

Pepper found herself hesitating. She really should say no, but to the best of her knowledge this was the first time that Anthony Stark had ever offered anyone more than a steamy night in bed with him, this was the first time that he'd stayed until morning despite the fact that nothing happened that surely meant something.

"Okay. One date. And we'll see."

His smile was wide and she smiled back, squeezing his hands slightly before she left the bed. When she turned at the door she had the pleasure of seeing him staring at her, slack-jawed, eyes wide and for a moment she thought that this new and latest twist to their relationship wasn't so bad. He definitely liked what he saw. It was enough to make her smirk as she left the room, leaving Tony to his own devices.

Two days after he'd returned from a traumatic capture and already she was officially in a relationship with THE Tony Stark. Though a part of her couldn't help but wonder what changes this would bring into the way the handled each other and the way they worked together. It took her a stunned moment to realise she was actually excited about this new Tony, about their date and about the future. Even when she tried to calm down her hopes by reminding herself what happened to all the other girls it didn't change anything.

She wondered what Tony would come up with for their date. He was nothing if not extravagant and she hoped he realised that that was not really something she enjoyed. God, this was messed up.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Tony found himself fairly bouncing on his way to the shower. Everything was going surprisingly well. He hadn't expected Pepper to agree but now... Now he had a date to plan. Oh fuck.

"Jarvis, research romantic dates. Look at Potts' previous search history see if you can find anything she's found romantic or a good date."

"Of course, sir. Your first suit is ready, sir."

And thanks to his current arm in a sling problem he couldn't try it. Just great... Actually...

/****/***$%/*/*****/

It was only an hour later that Pepper found herself called into the workshop. She just hoped he didn't have another new arc reactor he needed to have exchanged with his old one.

"Ah, Potts, perfect timing."

Grinning widely Tony turned to her. The sight of his bare chest was sufficient to distract her momentarily before she refocused on the red golden metal thing behind him.

"What's that?"

Grin widening further he mock-bowed and gestured to what she could now see was a suit. Of metal. Huh.

"That, my dear Ms. Potts, is my newest invention. Remember I escaped in a metal suit well this is an upgraded version of it."

"I thought you stopped producing weapons?" There was no accusation in her voice, just puzzled curiousity.

"I have. This is for me only. I need to stop people from using my weapons, I need to stop that organisation from doing to other villages what they did to Yinsen's. And for that I need your help."

"My help?" Her voice was not squeaking. Not at all.

"Yeah, see this arm in a sling is really stopping me from trying on my suit but you'd be small enough for it to fit around you. Now put on this before we try the suit, it should prevent any body hairs from being caught in the metal when it moves."

"If you're insinuating that I have more hair on my body than you, Mr. Stark, I feel I should inform you that I know how to kill you and hide the body so no one ever finds it."

"Ooh dangerous – very sexy." His mischievous grin flitted over her body before she watched his grin turn into a leer. "But you forget that I have seen enough this morning to know that your body has definitely nothing I would ever call a turn-off. Or too much hair."

He watched as she gaped at him, flushed from her neck upwards at his words. Quickly using her distraction he handed her the black suit Jarvis had created for her from the tailor's measurements.

"Now, put it on Potts."

She gave him another short look before mutely taking the black bodice and disappearing into the bathroom.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of Pepper with her bright red hair coming out of the bathroom in a black body suit that was skin tight.

Tony could feel his mouth water and he knew he was staring but he was powerless to stop it. He could see her every curve, her endless, perfect legs and by god, she was perfect; he swallowed. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. There was no way he could prove to her that he was interested in more than sex if she was walking across the room towards him, hips moving slightly, looking as though she was practically naked. Still he hadn't found it in him to form words.

Pepper smirked slightly. It did feel good to have the Tony Stark speechless and staring at her. If she'd still had any doubts after this morning if he'd find her attractive she had none now. Tony had never been speechless in front of any other woman before – even when he thought them quite attractive he just gave them another funny line or flirted. He never didn't know what to say. To know that he was in fact unable to form words at seeing her now was such a powerful rush she hadn't anticipated.

Giving him a naughty smile she stepped right into Tony's personal space, her hand resting on his arc reactor as she looked up at him slowly. Her voice was low and husky as her fingers ran over the sensitive skin next to his arc reactor.

"Where do you want me, Mr. Stark?"

With satisfaction she watched is eyes widen and heard him sucking in a deep breath.

"I- You- What?"

Stepping back slightly she blinked up at him innocently.

"I was simply asking how to put the suit on, Mr. Stark."

"The suit?" He looked god to honest puzzled as he looked around himself before seeing the red and gold suit behind him. "Oh. The suit. Right" He cleared his throat. "Miss Potts, this is a prototype. It's not made of the alloy I want and it doesn't have weapons or flight capacity. This is only to test manoeuvrability when it's all assembled – so it's completely safe."

She didn't think Tony would have let her anywhere near it if it hadn't been 100 % safe so she just nodded at his assertions.

"Right, stand there I will have to put these pieces on you bit by bit."

Whilst it had sounded rather... naughty at first it had actually been rather hard work. Tony had taken three and a quarter hours before he was satisfied that everything was in its place and fitted – relatively, she had after all quite a different built to him.

Tony was standing in front of her, wiping the sweat of his forehead whilst ordering her to move around. God, she was glad she hadn't drunk any water in the last few hours otherwise she'd be in trouble. She could only hope it didn't take as long to remove the suit.

After he'd had her flexing fingers, arms, legs, bending, stretching, running he was finally satisfied that he had all the data he needed. Luckily it took barely 20 minutes to disassemble everything again and she quickly went to the bathroom to slip back into her clothes and to get rid of the latex suit because damn it was itchy.

"Tony, I'll be upstairs having a shower and then I'll order some lunch. Anything specific you'd like?"

"Steak."

Pepper paused. "Would you like me to call Rhodey and we can have a barbecue?"

Tony looked up momentarily from his calculations, contemplating it, before nodding. "Yeah, call Rhodey. Should be fun."

Smiling Pepper left the room. Hopefully Tony and Rhodey were still okay. It would do him some good to have a bit of male company and to have someone else he knew was on his side around him.

/****/***$%/*/*****/

Please let me know what you think. I've moved it up a bit but the first date is probably two chapters away.


End file.
